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November 27, 2025PAYROLL EMPLOYMENT AND AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS, SEPTEMBER 2025 Monthly (September 2025 vs August 2025, seasonally adjusted)
Nova Scotia had 456,690 payroll employees in September 2025, down 1.49% (-6,912) compared to August 2025, the fastest decline among provinces. Canada had 18.23 million employees, down 0.32% from August 2025 with declines in six provinces. The fastest gain was reported in New Brunswick.
Nova Scotians' average weekly earnings were $1,185.76 in September 2025, a gain of $8.24 (+0.70%) from August 2025.
Nationally, average weekly earnings were $1,317.09, a gain of 0.70% (+$9.22) from average weekly earnings in August. Eight provinces reported gains in average weekly earnings with the fastest gain in Alberta. The only declines were reported in Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island.
Nova Scotia's average weekly earnings in September 2025 were second lowest among provinces, ahead of Prince Edward Island. Alberta reported the highest average weekly earnings.
Nova Scotia's average weekly earnings were highest in finance/insurance, professional/technical services, and company management industries. The lowest average weekly earnings were reported in Nova Scotia's accommodations/food service industries, and retail trade.
(Note: data are not available for Nova Scotia's utilities and mining sectors, and were not available in September 2025 for: forestry/logging, information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation.)
In September 2025, Nova Scotia's average weekly wages were 90.0% of the national average. Nova Scotia average weekly wages were below the comparable national average for every industry except health/social assistance and accommodation/food services. The largest gap was reported in construction (87.5% of the national average).
Year-over-year (September 2025 vs September 2024)
Compared with the same month in 2024, Nova Scotia's payroll employment dropped by 0.9% (-4,190) in September 2025. Nationally, payroll employment edged up 0.05% despite six provinces reported decline, with the fastest declines in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. The fastest gain was reported in New Brunswick.
Among the industries reported on by Statistics Canada, Nova Scotia's largest industries of employment were health care/social assistance (which includes daycares), followed by retail trade and education.
(Note: data are not available for Nova Scotia's utilities and mining sectors, and were not available from January 2025 to September 2025 for: information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation.)
Professional/technical services had the fastest year-over-year growth in payroll employment in Nova Scotia, followed by personal/repair services. Public administration, company management, retail trade, education, and manufacturing reported declines in payroll employment.
Average weekly wages grew by 5.5% in Nova Scotia from September 2024 to September 2025, the fastest gain among provinces. This was stronger than the national pace of 3.1%.
There were average weekly wage gains in each province. Alberta reported the slowest gain.
Average weekly wages were up 5.7% in Nova Scotia's goods-producing industries and up 5.2% in Nova Scotia's services-producing industries. All of the reported industries except retail trade, wholesale trade, and personal/repair services had year-over-year growth in average weekly wages with the largest increases in education and finance/insurance.
(Note: data are not available for Nova Scotia's utilities and mining sectors, and were not available in September 2025 for: forestry/logging, information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation.)
Year-to-date (January-September 2025 vs January-September 2024)
In the first nine months of 2025, Nova Scotia's payroll employment increased 0.9%. This was faster than the national average of 0.4% as all provinces reported growth except Ontario and Manitoba. The fastest year-to-date growth was reported in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.
Professional/technical, personal/repair services, and health care/social assistance reported the fastest growth in payroll employment in the first nine months of 2025 in Nova Scotia. The fastest declines were reported in public administration and company management.
In January-September 2025, average weekly earnings grew 3.8% in Nova Scotia compared to the same period last year. National average weekly earnings grew 3.9% with all provinces reporting growth over this period. Prince Edward Island reported the fastest growth while Manitoba reported the slowest.
Nova Scotia's average weekly earnings were highest in professional/technical services, finance/insurance, company management, and public administration in the first nine months of the year (among industries with available data for this period). Average weekly earnings among payroll employees grew the fastest for finance/insurance, education, and company management. Retail and wholesale trade reported lower average weekly earnings, year-to-date.
Nova Scotian average weekly earnings were below the national average for all reported industries in the first nine months of 2025 (average: 89.0%). The gap was smallest for health/social assistance (99.9% of the national average) and accommodation/food services (99.4% of the national average). The gaps were largest for public administration (85.0% of the national average) and construction (85.3% of the national average).
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0222-01 Employment, average hourly and weekly earnings (including overtime), and average weekly hours for the industrial aggregate excluding unclassified businesses, monthly, seasonally adjusted; Table 14-10-0223-01 Employment and average weekly earnings (including overtime) for all employees by province and territory, monthly, seasonally adjusted
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