Paul Martin’s Business Update – January 30th, 2015

Workers in this province fared as well as anyone in the country – or perhaps even a bit better – in terms of wage increases last year.

We don’t have the actual final number yet but November’s figures show Saskatchewan pay packets grew third fastest in the nation, behind only Newfoundland and PEI. They were even ahead of Alberta.

At 3.4 per cent for the twelve months ending in November, wage increases outpaced inflation which meant real gains for the province’s workforce.

We now stand at $960 a week, third among all the provinces behind Alberta and Newfoundland, the other oil producers. We may we see some retrenchment on these figures in coming months but the most current data still shows quite favorably as the falling price of oil was not as widely felt in November as in the eight or ten weeks since.

Nonetheless this provides some insight into the provincial labor market, again showing that the trends favor those selling labor and working against those who are buying, employers who have been raising pay scales in order to attract or retain talent.

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