Albertans' average wages hit record high in '09 despite recession

This article highlights how Alberta continues to out pace other provinces in wages for 2009, yet another great reason to live and do business here! "CALGARY - Average weekly earnings in Alberta jumped to a record level in February despite coming off a tough recession year in 2009.

Those weekly earnings jumped by 2.7 per cent from the previous month to $989.77 - the highest of any province, according to data released today by Statistics Canada. Wages were also up 2.5 per cent from a year agoNationally, average weekly earnings grew 1.0 per cent over the month to $843.91, a 2.8 per cent increase over a year ago when the country was mired in recession.

“Although workers make more money in Alberta than in any other province, earnings growth has subsided recently,” said Sumner. “This could continue over the next few years as Canadian earnings play a bit of catch-up while Alberta’s economic growth is closer to the national average than it was during the mid-2000s.

“However, it is possible that Albertans will continue to enjoy higher wages than workers in other provinces for a long time due to the structure of the provincial economy. There is a concentration of jobs in higher paying industries here such as natural resource extraction, which is the highest paying industry at $1627.26 per week and accounts for 7.1 per cent of jobs in Alberta compared to only 2.0 per cent nationally.”

Source; Calgary Herald April 29th, 2010.

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