Earlier this month, Statistics Canada released April 2023 labour market data for the country and its provinces. One of the datasets included in the update was employee wages by industry.
I was curious how Alberta wages fared compared to those in the other provinces, not just last month but over a longer period. As well, I was curious to see how wages have increased along with inflation.
To start, here are the average hourly wages for each province, as of last month.
| AB | $35.01 |
| ON | $34.46 |
| BC | $34.17 |
| SK | $31.76 |
| QC | $32.26 |
| NL | $30.54 |
| MB | $29.02 |
| NB | $28.72 |
| NS | $28.63 |
| PEI | $27.62 |
As you can see, employees in Alberta had the highest average hourly wage in the country. And this isn’t a recent thing either. Take a look at every April over the last 10 years.
See? Alberta has always had a higher wage than the other provinces. Or, at least going back a decade.
But do you notice anything about this graph?
For the first 6 years, between April 2013 and April 2019, the gap between Alberta and whichever province had the second highest wage had been pretty consistent.
However, starting in April 2020, that gap has been shrinking.
In April 2013, for example, Alberta employees made an average of $28.64 an hour, while Ontario workers, who had the second highest wages, were making $25.33 an hour. That’s a gap of $3.31.
In April 2019, that gap was still $3.51. But then it started shrinking: $2.51 in April 2020, $1.42 in April 2021, $1.31 in April 2022, and, finally, just $0.55 in April 2023.
It’s not just Ontario that’s catching up to Alberta. BC, which had the third highest average hourly wage in April 2013, was $3.78 an hour behind Alberta in April 2013 and $4.44 an hour behind in April 2019.
Over the last 4 years, it’s shrunk to $3.14, $2.02, $1.80, and $0.84, respectively.
So, what’s going on?
Well, let’s take a look at a few things. First, let’s start with how much each province has seen their average hourly wage change over the last 10 years.
| Apr 2013 | Apr 2023 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC | $24.86 | $34.17 | $9.31 | 37.45% |
| ON | $25.33 | $34.46 | $9.13 | 36.04% |
| QC | $23.40 | $32.26 | $8.86 | 37.86% |
| NB | $21.23 | $28.72 | $7.49 | 35.28% |
| PEI | $20.73 | $27.62 | $6.89 | 33.24% |
| SK | $25.06 | $31.76 | $6.70 | 26.74% |
| MB | $22.32 | $29.02 | $6.70 | 30.02% |
| NS | $22.13 | $28.63 | $6.50 | 29.37% |
| AB | $28.64 | $35.01 | $6.37 | 22.24% |
| NL | $24.75 | $30.54 | $5.79 | 23.39% |
While Alberta does have the highest average wages in the country, they had the second lowest increase over the last decade. BC, which had the largest increase, saw their average worker wages jump by almost $3 more an hour than Alberta did.
On a percentage basis, Alberta had the smallest increase, at only 22.24%. The largest increase was in Québec, where the average worker saw their hourly wage increase by 37.86%.
Now, check out this table, which shows the consumer price index for each province during the same period.
| Apr 2013 | Apr 2023 | Change | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MB | 122.6 | 159.4 | 36.8 | 30.02% |
| ON | 122.9 | 157.9 | 35.0 | 28.48% |
| BC | 117.2 | 150.4 | 33.2 | 28.33% |
| NB | 122.8 | 157.4 | 34.6 | 28.18% |
| SK | 125.4 | 160.4 | 35.0 | 27.91% |
| AB | 128.7 | 163.7 | 35.0 | 27.20% |
| PEI | 128.6 | 161.7 | 33.1 | 25.74% |
| NL | 125.9 | 158.3 | 32.4 | 25.73% |
| NS | 126.8 | 159.3 | 32.5 | 25.63% |
| QC | 121.8 | 152.5 | 30.7 | 25.21% |
In both April 2013 and April 2023, Alberta had the highest consumer price index, which means that Alberta had the highest increase in the cost of living since the index was set to 100. Remember, this is the average over the entire province, not just large cities.
During that time, Alberta’s consumer price index increased by 35 points. In other words, inflation was 27.2%, which puts us in about the middle of the pack.
But keep in mind that average worker wages during that same period increased by 22.24%. In other words, inflation was nearly 5 points higher than wage increases.
Here’s how wages and inflation increased for each province over the last decade.
| Wage increase | Inflation | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| QC | 37.86% | 25.21% | 12.66% |
| BC | 37.45% | 28.33% | 9.12% |
| ON | 36.04% | 28.48% | 7.57% |
| PEI | 33.24% | 25.74% | 7.50% |
| NB | 35.28% | 28.18% | 7.10% |
| NS | 29.37% | 25.63% | 3.74% |
| MB | 30.02% | 30.02% | 0.00% |
| SK | 26.74% | 27.91% | -1.17% |
| NL | 23.39% | 25.73% | -2.34% |
| AB | 22.24% | 27.20% | -4.95% |
Alberta was one of only 3 provinces where average wages increased slower than inflation—Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan being the other two.
Not only that, but the gap between wages and inflation was worse in Alberta than in any other province, with inflation increases roughly 5 percentage points more than average wages.
Had wages in Alberta actually kept up with inflation, the average worker in Alberta should have seen their wages increase by an extra $7.79 an hour over the last 10 years, for a total $36.43 an hour, instead of $35.01.
That works out to about $3,000 a year.
