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January 29, 2026PAYROLL EMPLOYMENT AND AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS, NOVEMBER 2025 Monthly (November 2025 vs October 2025, seasonally adjusted)
Nova Scotia had 467,653 payroll employees in November 2025, up 0.45% (+2,115) compared to October 2025, the fastest gain among provinces. Canada had 18.25 million employees, down 0.14% from October 2025 with declines in seven provinces. The fastest decline was reported in Prince Edward Island.
Nova Scotians' average weekly earnings were $1,194.94 in November 2025, an increase of $9.30 (+0.78%) from October 2025.
Nationally, average weekly earnings were $1,317.16, a gain of 0.55% (+$7.21) from average weekly earnings in October. All provinces reported gains in average weekly earnings with the fastest gain in Manitoba. The slowest gain was reported in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Nova Scotia's average weekly earnings in November 2025 were second lowest among provinces, ahead of Prince Edward Island. Alberta and Ontario 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 November 2025 for: information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation.)
In November 2025, Nova Scotia's average weekly wages were 90.7% of the national average. Nova Scotia average weekly wages were below the comparable national average for every industry except health/social assistance, finance/insurance, and accommodation/food services. The largest gap was reported in forestry/logging (76.7% of the national average).
Year-over-year (November 2025 vs November 2024)
Compared with the same month in 2024, Nova Scotia's payroll employment increased by 1.8% (+8,278) in November 2025, the fastest gain among provinces (tied with Saskatchewan). Nationally, payroll employment increased 0.3%, with gains in all provinces except Ontario and Prince Edward Island.
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 November 2025 for: information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation.)
Transportation had the fastest year-over-year growth in payroll employment in Nova Scotia, followed by professional/technical services. Wholesale trade, retail trade, manufacturing, public administration, and accommodation/food services reported declines in payroll employment.
Average weekly wages grew by 4.5% in Nova Scotia from November 2024 to November 2025, the second fastest gain among provinces. This was stronger than the national pace of 2.5%.
There were average weekly wage gains in each province. Prince Edward Island reported the fastest gain while Newfoundland and Labrador reported the slowest gain.
Average weekly wages were up 4.3% in Nova Scotia's goods-producing industries and also up 4.3% in Nova Scotia's services-producing industries. All of the reported industries except retail trade, wholesale trade, company management, administrative/support/call centres, and personal/repair services had year-over-year growth in average weekly wages with the largest increases in education and construction.
(Note: data are not available for Nova Scotia's utilities and mining sectors, and were not available in November 2025 for: information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation, and were not available in November 2024 for: health care/social assistance and forestry/logging.)
Year-to-date (January-November 2025 vs January-November 2024)
In the first eleven months of 2025, Nova Scotia's payroll employment increased 1.2%. This was faster than the national average of 0.4% as all provinces reported growth except Manitoba and Ontario. The fastest year-to-date growth was reported in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.
Transportation, professional/technical, health care/social assistance, and personal/repair services reported the fastest growth in payroll employment in the first eleven months of 2025 in Nova Scotia. The fastest declines were reported in company management, retail trade, and public administration.
In January-November 2025, average weekly earnings grew 3.9% in Nova Scotia compared to the same period last year. National average weekly earnings grew 3.5% with all provinces reporting growth over this period. Prince Edward Island reported the fastest growth while Manitoba and Alberta 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 eleven 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 transportation. 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 except health/social assistance in the first eleven months of 2025 (average: 89.3%). The gap was smallest for accommodation/food services (99.5% of the national average). The gaps were largest for public administration (84.5% of the national average) and construction (85.9% 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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