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December 18, 2025PAYROLL EMPLOYMENT AND AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS, OCTOBER 2025 Monthly (October 2025 vs September 2025, seasonally adjusted)
Nova Scotia had 464,975 payroll employees in October 2025, down 0.39% (-1,812) compared to September 2025, the second fastest decline among provinces. Canada had 18.29 million employees, up 0.12% from September 2025 with gains in five provinces. The fastest gain was reported in Saskatchewan while the fastest decline was reported in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Nova Scotians' average weekly earnings were $1,179.42 in October 2025, a decline of $5.60 (-0.47%) from September 2025.
Nationally, average weekly earnings were $1,312.16, a decline of 0.21% (-$2.71) from average weekly earnings in September. Five provinces reported declines in average weekly earnings with the fastest decline in Alberta. The fastest gains were reported in Saskatchewan and Ontario.
Nova Scotia's average weekly earnings in October 2025 were third lowest among provinces, ahead of Prince Edward Island and Manitoba. Ontario and Alberta reported the highest average weekly earnings.
Nova Scotia's average weekly earnings were highest in professional/technical services, finance/insurance, 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 October 2025 for: forestry/logging, information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation.)
In October 2025, Nova Scotia's average weekly wages were 89.9% 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 public administration (84.9% of the national average).
Year-over-year (October 2025 vs October 2024)
Compared with the same month in 2024, Nova Scotia's payroll employment increased by 1.1% (+5,261) in October 2025. Nationally, payroll employment increased 0.4%, with gains in all provinces except Prince Edward Island. The fastest gains were reported in Saskatchewan and 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 October 2025 for: information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation.)
Forestry/logging and transportation had the fastest year-over-year growth in payroll employment in Nova Scotia, followed by professional/technical and health care/social assistance. Retail trade, manufacturing, public administration, education, and finance/insurance reported declines in payroll employment.
Average weekly wages grew by 3.5% in Nova Scotia from October 2024 to October 2025. This was stronger than the national pace of 2.2%.
There were average weekly wage gains in each province. Prince Edward Island reported the fastest gain while Alberta reported the slowest gain.
Average weekly wages were up 2.2% in Nova Scotia's goods-producing industries and up 3.8% in Nova Scotia's services-producing industries. All of the reported industries except retail trade, wholesale trade, manufacturing, and company management had year-over-year growth in average weekly wages with the largest increases in administrative/support/call centres and professional/technical services.
(Note: data are not available for Nova Scotia's utilities and mining sectors, and were not available in October 2025 for: forestry/logging, information/culture, real estate/rental/leasing, and arts/entertainment/recreation.)
Year-to-date (January-October 2025 vs January-October 2024)
In the first ten 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. The fastest year-to-date growth was reported in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan
Professional/technical, health care/social assistance, and personal/repair services reported the fastest growth in payroll employment in the first ten months of 2025 in Nova Scotia. The fastest declines were reported in company management and retail trade.
In January-October 2025, average weekly earnings grew 3.8% in Nova Scotia compared to the same period last year. National average weekly earnings grew 3.7% 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 ten 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 ten months of 2025 (average: 89.1%). The gap was smallest for accommodation/food services (99.5% of the national average). The gaps were largest for public administration (84.3% of the national average) and construction (85.5% 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