Payroll employment, earnings and hours

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Total non-farm payroll employment fell by 51,400 in April, down 0.4% from March. Since the peak in October 2008, the number of employees has fallen every month, bringing total losses over this period to 376,500. Job losses occurred in 64% of industries, unchanged from a month before.

These data come from the recently redesigned Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH). SEPH is a business survey that provides a detailed portrait of employees from an industry perspective, complementing information on total employment from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which is a survey from a household perspective.

Out of the 305 industries covered by the survey, 195 (64%) experienced job losses in April. During this current economic downturn, the highest number of industries cutting payroll employment occurred in January, with 229 (75%) shedding jobs.

In April, most of the monthly decline in jobs was in the service sector, particularly in universities; food services and drinking places; and truck transportation. Since the start of the decline, April was the first month where service sector job losses outpaced those in the goods sector.

The goods sector also experienced a drop in payroll employment in April, mainly in support activities for mining, oil and gas extraction and specialty trade contractors. The manufacturing industry experienced its smallest job decline since the start of the recent economic downturn.

The provinces with the largest declines in non-farm payroll employment in April were Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba. Employment in the other provinces was little changed in the month.

In April 2009, average weekly earnings, including overtime, of payroll employees was $820.53, up 1.4% from April 2008. This was down from the 1.8% year-over-year growth in March.

Service sector posts the majority of April's job losses

In April, the number of service sector employees fell by 47,400, triple the number of goods sector job losses in the month. The largest declines in service payroll employment were in universities (-6,900); food services and drinking places (-4,100); and truck transportation (-3,300). Other losses occurred in wholesale trade, professional scientific and technical services and health care and social assistance.

Despite widespread losses in the services sector, some service industries experienced job growth in April: activities related to credit intermediation (+4,100), other local, municipal and regional public administration (+3,900), and grocery stores and department stores (+2,100 each).

Fewer employment losses in manufacturing

Between October 2008 and March 2009, the number of employees in manufacturing fell by an average of 24,200 each month. From March to April, the number of factory employees fell by 5,600. This one-month slowing of manufacturing job losses coincides with a similar pattern in manufacturing sales.

While April job declines were felt in some durable goods industries such as machinery (-2,500); fabricated metal products (-2,200); primary metals (-1,400); and wood products (-1,200), there was some job growth in other manufacturing industries, including meat products (+2,500); grain and oilseed milling (+1,600); motor vehicle parts (+1,600); and paper (+1,200).

The number of employees working for specialty construction trade contractors continued to decline. In April, there were 8,900 fewer employees in this industry than in March, with losses spread among foundation, structure and building exterior contractors, building equipment contractors, building finishing contractors and other specialty trade contractors. Since October 2008, the number of specialty trade contractor employees has fallen by 40,200 (-8.0%).

Support activities for mining and oil and gas extraction continued on a downward trend, posting heavy job losses in April. Payroll employment fell by 7,500 (-9.4%) in this industry, which includes work such as contract drilling and oil and gas services. The mining, oil and gas extraction support activities industry has shed 19,600 employees (-21.5%) since October 2008.

Average weekly earnings

The average weekly earnings, including overtime, of payroll employees in April was $820.53, up 1.4% from April 2008. This year-over-year earnings growth was at a slower pace than March 2008 to March 2009 (+1.8%).

Among the largest industrial sectors, compared with the same month a year earlier, average weekly earnings in April were up 5.7% in health care and social assistance, 1.2% in public administration, 0.6% in retail trade and 0.3% in educational services.

For the same year-over-year period, average weekly earnings fell 6.0% in manufacturing and 0.8% in accommodation and food services.

Provincially, the biggest increase in average weekly earnings was in Prince Edward Island, increasing by 5.8% from April 2008. Over the same period, average weekly earnings rose by 4.7% in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 3.2% in Nova Scotia and Alberta. The other provinces had smaller increases, with the exception of British Columbia, where year-over-year average weekly earnings were unchanged.

Comparing SEPH and LFS

Data on employment, wages and hours worked are produced by two major Statistics Canada monthly surveys: LFS and SEPH. Survey estimates differ for conceptual reasons and for methodological reasons. The information source is the key distinction between the two surveys: SEPH provides information related to occupied jobs based on a census of administrative data from businesses whereas LFS provides information on the employment characteristics of individuals based on a survey of households. While the estimates from the survey do differ, the trends in the data are quite similar.

Since each of these surveys addresses different needs, the choice of data depends on the users' goals. Other conceptual and methodological differences between the two surveys include: degree of coverage of industries and the self employed, treatment of multiple-job holders, and the survey reference period. The effects of these differences vary by industry.

Available on CANSIM: tables 281-0023 to 281-0039 and 281-0041 to 281-0046.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2612.

Detailed industry data, data by size of enterprise based on employment, and other labour market indicators will be available soon in the monthly publication Employment, Earnings and Hours (72-002-X, free).

Data on payroll employment, earnings and hours for May will be released on July 30.

For more information, or to order data, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-866-873-8788; 613-951-4090; labour@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about revisions, concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Jason Gilmore (613-951-7118), Labour Statistics Division.