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February 27, 2026COMPENSATION OF EMPLOYEES, Q4 AND ANNUAL 2025 Quarter-over-quarter (Q4 2025 vs Q3 2025, seasonally adjusted)
Total compensation of employees for all industries increased by 2.0% in Nova Scotia, rising to $9.19 billion in Q4 2025, the fastest among provinces. National employee compensation was up 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025. All provinces recorded quarter over quarter gains in employee compensation, except Alberta.
Annual (2025 vs 2024)
Nova Scotia's employee compensation for all industries was up 5.3% in 2025 when compared with 2024. National employee compensation grew 3.9%. All provinces recorded annual gains in employee compensation in 2025, with the fastest gain reported in Prince Edward Island and the slowest in British Columbia.
Annual growth in total wages and salaries by industry show that the strongest contributions to rising payrolls came from professional and personal services, followed by health care/social assistance (which includes daycare). Wage and salary totals were down for mining/oil/gas and wholesale/retail industries.
In percentage terms, transportation 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
After the notable declines early in the pandemic, employee compensation growth picked up and experienced strong growth from 2021-2023. Over this period, there were some notable spikes in employee compensation monthly results, followed by subsequent corrections. Since the beginning of 2024, monthly results have become less volatile and growth in employee compensation has slowed somewhat. Employee compensation has declined somewhat at the end of 2025 after reaching the most recent peak in October.
Year-over-year (December 2025 vs December 2024)
On a year-over-year basis, employee compensation growth was 6.5% in December 2025.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 36-10-0205-01 Wages, salaries and employers' social contributions (x 1,000)