The PayScale Index Highlights - Q3 2012
Two strong quarters of growth for Canada's workers added up to year-over-year, national wage growth of 3.3 percent by the end of Q3 2012 - the highest year-over-year growth for the country in four years.
Check out The PayScale Index to find out about Canada's overall economic health, which city's residents are enjoying the best earnings growth and whether you're wise to ask for a bump in pay.
1. Petroleum Proves Powerful: Edmonton and
Calgary continued to dominate the list when it comes to pay growth since 2006. These oil towns have experienced ˜8 percent increase in wages since their low point in 2009.
2. Two Cities at the Top: When looking at the top wage growth over the last year, Edmonton and
Ottawa are tied for first with 3.4 percent. Edmonton's wage levels regularly do well due to the booming oil business, but Ottawa's tend to have a lot of ups and downs.
3. Wobbly Win for Ottawa: Ottawa might have been tops for annual wage growth, but it was near the bottom for quarterly wage growth with only 0.3 percent. Therefore, this quarter wasn't exceptionally strong, but a very weak Q3 2011 drove the annual wage growth up.
The PayScale Index tracks quarterly changes in total cash compensation for full-time, private industry employees in the United States. In addition to a national index, it includes separate indices for specific industries, metropolitan areas, job categories, and company sizes. The PayScale Index uses 2006 average total cash compensation as a baseline.
