Employment & Wages - CHHMA News Blog



Employment & Wages 2019Headlines are not enough to manage labour costs. Companies can face higher wages or labour shortages due to local changes or projects on the other side of the country. -635115697000Tables:Employment by Province and industryChanges in employment & wages by Industry and province Employment & Wages by Industry Administration & WagesTransportationTrade (Wholesale & Retail)ManufacturingAccommodation & Food ServiceConstructionHours of WorkAverage Offered Hourly Wage Employment & Wages 2019The Headlines CanadaCanadian, unit labour costs rose 2.9% in 2019, following a 2.4% gain in the previous year. This increase was mainly due to growth in hourly compensation (+3.4%).United StatesExpressed in US dollars labour costs edged up 0.5% in 2019. By comparison, unit labour costs of American businesses were up 2.0%, a rate similar to that observed in the previous two years. Statistics CanadaWhat drives labour costs?The simple answer is supply and demand but what drives supply and demand in today’s markets? Wages and employment once viewed as a regional, industry or provincial issue is now a national and even a global challenge. A decrease in employment in one industry creates a problem or opportunity for other industries, regions and projects. Workers that flocked to Alberta in the early 2000s are on the move again. It’s not just oil & gas workers but also accommodation and food services, transportation and contract workers. Large infrastructure projects require a mobile workforce of skilled labour. Multi-billion-dollar projects can drain workers from towns and major cities across the country. Construction jobs are down -3.7% (12,846) in Alberta but up 5.4% (20,439) in Quebec due to large public transportation projects, a gas pipeline and post-flood panies can be faced with higher wages or labour shortages due to local changes or projects on the other side of the country. It is easier for a worker to move to a new region than a company that is heavily invested in one location to relocate. Human Resources Human resources need to be part of strategic planning and corporate leadership teams. More than ever HR needs to know their business inside and out and look for solutions beyond hourly rates and salaries. Paying more may not be a solutionSince the 1950s companies have increased productivity with training programs, better management techniques and incentives. Today productivity is often driven by technology and technology costs a lot of money. Recent wage increases or labour shortages may only be the start of a trend. Companies need to decide if they should compete against these external forces or restructure operations. Getting back to core competencies may be the only solution.ProductivityCanadaFor the year 2019, labour productivity of Canadian businesses grew 0.6%, after edging down 0.1% in the previous year. Real GDP of businesses (+1.4%) grew at a faster pace than hours worked (+0.9%).United StatesIn the United States, the annual productivity growth of businesses was?1.7% in?2019, after increasing?1.3% during each of the previous two years. This was the highest annual increase in?US?productivity in nine years.?STATISTICS CANADAIf Amazon has recently moved into your area, you know that wages are not the problem. Amazon doesn’t pay premium wages. Amazon invests in technology. The problem that Amazon creates is a tight labour market by absorbing hundreds of low wage workers. This change affects all businesses in the area. The pool of entry-level and part-time workers for other businesses can disappear. Amazon, through massive investments in technology has increased productivity while keeping labour cost at a minimum. It has also forced other less productive companies to pay a premium to attract entry-level workers. Amazon is not unique. Other companies have bought-up competitors around the world creating a global and efficient distribution system. (example: cleaning, plumbing products) Amazon to build a warehouse on Detroit, Silverdome site, at an estimated cost of $250 million.Amazon plans to hire 1,500 full-time workers making $15 an hour. The center would also support 140 employees making salaries of $60,000 and up annually.This cost does not include the billions of dollars that Amazon has spent on systems and data centers. Productivity is calculated by measuring the number of units produced relative to employee labour hours or by measuring a company's net sales relative to employee labour PETING WITH AMAZON THERE ARE NO SECRETS (download)Discusses the valuable information you can obtain from doing business with Amazon to compete, evaluate and cost of your operation. Employment & Wages 2019Alberta with the slowest job growth still has some of the highest wages.The north has the highest wages but there aren’t many jobs.Construction is less productive today than in 2012.TablesTables of employment and wages are available for download. Tables cover employment, hourly wages and fixed salaries by industry, province, and economic zones within provinces.Data is from Statistics Canada. Monthly survey estimates are produced from payroll deductions, provided by the Canada Revenue Agency, with a population of 1.1 million establishments.?Most of the statistics are geographic by industry and are broken down by hourly wage and fixed salaries. Note: Overtime is included for both hourly wages and fixed salaries for comparison as overtime for fixed salaries is not available. The sheet “Hours of Work” by occupation provides a good idea of overtime utilization.Suggestions:Tables should be used to analyze trends and changes and provide a general mid-point for actual wages. This is an extremely large monthly survey with over a million establishments and millions of jobs, but it is not a job description comparison based on specific duties and responsibilities.Use multiple tables. Example: The Wholesale/ Retail trade covers average wages by various product-specific wholesalers and retail store types, but the industry also has truck drivers and accountants. More specific or competitive wage rates can be found under Transportation & Warehousing or Administration and Accounting.Most provinces are large, and wages vary north/ south and east/ west. The sheet “Offered Hourly Wages “provides a break-down of offered wages within provinces. Offered wages are collected by Statistics Canada from 150,000 companies and provide a good idea of premiums paid in different economic regions.Index:Employment by Province and industryEmployment by province all industriesEmployment by industry all provinces. Wage variance, hourly wage/ fixed salaries by industry all provincesDetail employment & wages by Industry and provinceThe table shows employment increases and decreases and the corresponding changes in hourly and fixed wages for all major industry categories by province. Wages for all Industry sub-categories are provided under Employment and Wages.Employment & Wages by IndustryActual and variance of wages by industry sub-category by province. Hours of Work by occupation by provinceSee aboveAverage Offered Hourly Wage Statistics Canada surveys more than 150,000 businesses monthly to obtain offered salaries for open positions. The wages presented are for all industries for major employment areas. (example Hamilton-Niagara)Questions & ContactsBob Smith: rsmith@chhma.ca Michael Jorgenson: mjorgenson@chhma.ca Sam Moncado: smoncada@chhma.ca ................
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