Wages and salaries

Alberta Employment and Immigration commissions a detailed wage and salary survey every two years.  The survey provides information on wages and salaries for full-time and part-time employees in Alberta by occupation, geographic area and industry1.  The latest survey was conducted in 2009 and for the first time wage and salary estimates have been prepared for Alberta’s 14 economic regions. 

In 2009, the average hourly wage was $21.56 in the North Central region2, 13.2% less than the Alberta average of $24.34 per hour. 

The industries in the region with the largest number of reported employees were retail trade, healthcare and social services, manufacturing and education.  The industry with the highest average wage was the oil and gas industry at $37.53 per hour, followed by public administration at $32.76.  The accommodation and food services industry had the lowest average wage at $11.14 per hour.

The average number of hours worked per week was 37.9 for the region and 37.3 for all of Alberta.  The industry with the most average hours per employee was the oil and gas sector at 60.4 hours, followed by construction at 45.1 hours.    

As the below table clearly indicates, labour shortage problems are not confined to Alberta’s urban core.  The North Central region had a 7.2% vacancy rate3 in 2009, compared with Alberta’s 3.0%.  Moreover, the region also reported more hiring difficulties4 than Alberta (62% versus 41%).  Labour shortages were particularly acute in accommodation and food services with a vacancy rate of 29.4% and with 87% of employers reporting hiring difficulties. 

1 http://alis.alberta.ca/wageinfo 
2 The number of survey respondents for small regions may be too small to provide accurate overall wage estimates
3 The percentage of total positions in this industry reported as unfilled for over four months
4 Percent of employers with hiring difficulties
5 Only industries with more than 100 reported employees were included in the table
 

Date Updated:
RDP-2407