Average weekly earnings up in October: StatsCan

Average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees increased 1.4 percent to $885.36 in October. Statistics Canada reports average weekly earnings were up 2.7 percent from a year earlier.

The agency says the average work week was unchanged from October 2010 at 33 hours.

It also says the month-to-month increase in average weekly earnings was highest in finance and insurance; education; real estate and rental leasing; utilities; mining, quarrying, oil-and-gas extraction; and manufacturing.

Year-over-year growth exceeded the national average of 2.7 percent in four of Canada’s largest industrial sectors: administrative and support services; professional, scientific and technical services; health care and social assistance; and education.

Average weekly earnings rose in every province in the 12 months to October, led by growth in Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta.

The lowest rate of growth was in Nova Scotia.