Last month, by ordering an eighth increase in its key rate since March 2022, the Bank of Canada expressed concern about wage increases. “Wage growth remains widespread and appears to be holding between 4% and 5%. […] Unless productivity growth becomes surprisingly strong, it will not be possible to meet the 2% inflation target if wage growth remains within that range,” she wrote.
According to forecasts published last week by the Order of Chartered Human Resources Advisors, employers in Quebec plan to grant average salary increases of 4.4% in 2023, compared to 4% in 2022. For Canada as a whole, the ‘we’re talking about 4.1% this year. “Despite the slowdown in economic growth, the labor shortage persists and clearly continues to push wages up in all sectors of economic activity,” said Manon Poirier, Executive Director of the Order.
According to data from Statistics Canada, the number of vacancies remained around 848,800 in December in Canada, at 194,500 in Quebec. The job vacancy rate, which corresponds to the number of vacant jobs as a proportion of total labor demand, reached 4.8% in Quebec, the highest rate among the provinces. Or, in December, British Columbia and Quebec continued to have fewer unemployed people than vacancies, with an unemployment-to-vacancy ratio of 0.9 in both provinces, the federal agency said.
The Order of Human Resources Advisors also recalls that the 2023 forecasts take into account the effect on the salary structure of organizations of the 7% increase in the minimum wage in Quebec, which will come into effect on 1er may.
For last year, Statistics Canada tells us that, compared to 2021, average weekly earnings rose 3.4% to reach $1,174 in December across Canada. The surge was stronger in Quebec, up 4.5% to $1,130.
And for 2021, the Quebec Institute of Statistics (ISQ) figure the jump in the median employment income of 25-64 year olds across Quebec to 9%, to reach $49,788. An increase (described as unprecedented since these data were compiled) which follows the small increase that occurred in 2020, the year the pandemic broke out. “The increase is greater than that observed at the provincial level in 48 regional county municipalities [sur les 104 qu’abrite le Québec] and, in 27 of them, the increase exceeded 10%,” adds the ISQ.
Everything has to be put in an inflationary perspective. In Quebec, inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 3.8% in 2021. The Bank of Canada indicated, in its Policy Report monetary January, that the increase in the CPI fell from 4.7% at an annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 6.7% in the last quarter of 2022. The institution forecasts that it will settle around 2 .6% in the last quarter of this year, to land at the 2% target in 2024.
Concerned young people
The ISQ adds that the growth in employment income of more than 10% was observed mainly among workers aged 25 to 34 and those aged 55 to 64. “It compensates for the increase which was lower in 2020, because these two age groups were particularly affected, in terms of employment income, during the pandemic in 2020”, explained in an interview with The Canadian Press. Marie-Hélène Provençal, co-author of the study and project manager at the ISQ.
Canadians aged 18 to 34 are now much less confident about their financial future as they try to cope with the continued impact of inflation on their daily lives, says RBC’s annual survey. on financial independence.
“The confidence level of these young adults has dropped to 18% from 31% last year, and the majority are worried about their cash flow [77 %]. The reasons for this concern are: income too low [46 %]fixed loads too high [35 %] and unforeseen expenses [27 %] “, continues the financial institution.
It appears that 52% of respondents say they are ill-prepared for the effects of inflation and rising costs they are currently experiencing. Here are the main reasons:
47%: “I have never experienced high inflation before. »
43%: “I didn’t anticipate how much this would affect my ability to meet my basic needs. »
34%: “I was already living paycheck to paycheck. »
32%: “I haven’t thought about how this will affect my ability to save or invest for the future. »
In another survey, presented by Scotiabank, we can read that one in four Canadians (26%) is so stressed by their financial situation that they have insomnia. This feeling is particularly expressed by members of Generations Z, Y and X. “It should be noted that there are differences from one region of the country to another. Quebecers are less likely to agree that their financial situation causes them great stress [17 %]while Albertans are the most worried [32 %] “Says Scotia.