According to the latest data released by Statistics Canada, Saskatchewan's average weekly earnings were up in June compared to May. The numbers, which came out Thursday morning, show the average weekly earnings in the province were $1220.82, an increase of 5.17 percent from June 2023 and up by $12.30 from May.
The sectors with the biggest year-over-year increases were mining, quarrying, and oil & gas extraction, up by $122.17 to $2248.23 in June. This was followed closely by the information and cultural sector, which saw increases of $113.85 to $1515.89.
The lowest weekly earnings were in the accommodation and food services, which was $445.74 last month, and the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector, which was $698.24. Both of these were up from June 2023, though, by 7.74 percent and 8.73 percent respectively.
The data coming out Thursday morning also illustrated what sectors people are employed in. Of the 525,767 payroll employees throughout Saskatchewan, just 19,883, or 3.78 percent, were employed in the mining, quarrying, and oil & gas extraction sectors. All goods-producing industries combined, which also include construction, manufacturing, utilities, and forestry, employ 85,088 people, or 16.18 percent of the province’s workforce.
The largest sector in terms of employment is trade, which includes retail and wholesale. There were 88,268 people working in that sector throughout the province, making up 16.79 percent of the workforce. The second highest sector is health care and social assistance, which has 14.67 percent of the workforce, or 77,111.
The smallest sectors in the province are those that manage companies and enterprises, with 3319. The real estate and rental & leasing sector has just 5357 payroll employees throughout all of Saskatchewan.
The number of people employed in Saskatchewan is now 6.33 percent higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, with increases in most sectors, with the exceptions being the information and cultural sector, real estate, arts, entertainment, & recreation, and accommodation & food services, where the number of payroll employees slightly declined.