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February 26, 2026PAYROLL EMPLOYMENT AND AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS, DECEMBER AND ANNUAL 2025 Monthly (December 2025 vs November 2025, seasonally adjusted)
Nova Scotia had 466,807 payroll employees in December 2025, down 0.12% (-567) compared to November 2025. Canada had 18.24 million employees, down 0.19% from November 2025 with declines in seven provinces. The fastest declines were reported in Manitoba and Ontario. The largest gain was reported in New Brunswick.
Nova Scotians' average weekly earnings were $1,181.08 in December 2025, a decline of $5.38 (-0.45%) from November 2025.
Nationally, average weekly earnings were $1,316.18, a gain of 0.07% (+$0.96) from average weekly earnings in November. Five provinces reported gains in average weekly earnings with the fastest gain in Prince Edward Island. The fastest decline was reported in Alberta.
Nova Scotia's average weekly earnings in December 2025 were the lowest among provinces. Alberta and Ontario reported the highest average weekly earnings.
Nova Scotia's average weekly earnings were highest in company management, finance/insurance, and professional/technical services 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 December 2025 for: forestry/logging, information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation.)
In December 2025, Nova Scotia's average weekly wages were 89.7% of the national average. Nova Scotia average weekly wages were below the comparable national average for every industry except health/social assistance. The smallest gap was reported in retail trade (99.5% of the national average). The largest gap was reported in public administration (82.0% of the national average).
Year-over-year (December 2025 vs December 2024)
Compared with the same month in 2024, Nova Scotia's payroll employment increased by 0.9% (+4,312) in December 2025. Nationally, payroll employment decreased 0.2%, with declines in six provinces. The fastest decline was reported in Prince Edward Island while the largest gains were reported in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.
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 December 2025 for: information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation.)
Company management had the fastest year-over-year growth in payroll employment in Nova Scotia, followed by forestry/logging. Retail trade, wholesale trade, manufacturing, and public administration reported declines in payroll employment.
Average weekly wages grew by 3.7% in Nova Scotia from December 2024 to December 2025. This was stronger than the national pace of 1.9%.
There were average weekly wage gains in each province. Prince Edward Island reported the fastest gain while Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta reported the slowest gains.
Average weekly wages were up 0.5% 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 wholesale trade, personal/repair services, and public administration had year-over-year growth in average weekly wages with the largest increases in company management and education.
(Note: data are not available for Nova Scotia's utilities and mining sectors, and were not available in December 2025 for: forestry/logging, information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation.
Annual (2025 vs 2024)
In 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 growth was reported in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.
Transportation, professional/technical, and health care/social assistance services reported the fastest growth in payroll employment in 2025 in Nova Scotia. The fastest declines were reported in retail trade and public administration.
In 2025, average weekly earnings grew 3.8% in Nova Scotia compared to last year. National average weekly earnings grew 3.4% with all provinces reporting growth over this period. Prince Edward Island reported the fastest growth while Alberta reported the slowest.
Nova Scotia's average weekly earnings were highest in professional/technical services, finance/insurance, company management, and public administration in 2025 (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.
(Note: Data were not available in November 2024 for: health care/social assistance.)
Nova Scotian average weekly earnings were below the national average for all reported industries except health/social assistance in 2025 (average: 89.3%). The gap was smallest for accommodation/food services (99.4% of the national average). The gaps were largest for public administration (84.2% of the national average) and construction (86.0% 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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