Wage growth for workers in Canada was still sluggish at the start of the summer as inflation runs rampant in the economy, data released Thursday morning by Statistics Canada show.
Posted at 11:39 a.m.
“While inflation increased by 7.7% in May, average weekly earnings were up 2.5% year on year, which represents a lower growth rate than that recorded in April (+3.2 %) and in March (+4.2%)”, indicates the federal agency in its bulletin The Daily.
In other words, this widening gap between the increase in weekly wages and the rate of inflation suggests a marked acceleration in the loss of purchasing power in consumer goods and services among salaried workers in Canada.
According to the Statistics Canada survey, the “average weekly earnings” of Canadian workers in May reached $1,159, up 2.5% year-on-year.
This was an increase in average wages two-thirds below the inflation rate of 7.7% measured in May.
However, this gap was less significant in Quebec, where the increase in weekly earnings was still 3.6% in May, at an average amount of $1,108. This was still an increase less than half the inflation rate measured in May.
In comparison, in neighboring Ontario, the loss of purchasing power among workers was accentuated at the start of the summer.
Growth in average weekly earnings in Ontario slowed to just 2.1% in May. This annualized increase was then reduced to only a quarter of the inflation rate measured in May.