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February 28, 2025COMPENSATION OF EMPLOYEES, Q4 and ANNUAL 2024 Quarter-over-quarter (Q4 2024 vs Q3 2024, seasonally adjusted)
Total compensation of employees for all industries increased by 1.1% in Nova Scotia, rising to $8.7 billion in Q4 2024. National employee compensation was up 1.0% in the fourth quarter of 2024. All provinces recorded quarter over quarter gains in employee compensation with the fastest growth in New Brunswick, and the slowest in Manitoba.
Annual (2024 vs 2023)
Nova Scotia's employee compensation for all industries was up 8.1% in 2024 when compared with 2023, the second fastest growth among provinces. National employee compensation grew 5.9%. All provinces recorded year-over-year gains in employee compensation during 2024, with the fastest gain reported in Prince Edward Island and the slowest in Manitoba.
Annual growth in total wages and salaries by industry show that the strongest contributions to rising payrolls came from the health care/social assistance (which includes daycare) industries, followed by professional and personal services industries. Wage and salary totals were down for the mining/oil/gas industries and federal military employees.
In percentage terms, agriculture/forestry/fishing, health care/social assistance, construction, and information/cultural services reported the fastest gains in Nova Scotia over this period.
Note that changes in employee compensation reflect changes in wages and salaries as well as changes in contributions to social insurance. Changes in wages and salaries include the effects of changing numbers of employees, changing hours worked and wage rates as well as effects from differences in pay period from one year to the next.
Trends
In each of June 2022 and June 2023, there were spikes in employee compensation, followed by corrections. In 2024, there were notable spikes in compensation in January (without a correction the following month) and May (with a subsequent decline in June). Nova Scotia experienced a decline in employee compensation in December of 2024, with a similar decline experienced in December of 2023.
Year-over-year (December 2024 vs December 2023)
On a year-over-year basis, employee compensation increased 7.0% in December 2024.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 36-10-0205-01 Wages, salaries and employers' social contributions (x 1,000)
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