Wages and salaries

Alberta Employment and Immigration commissions a detailed wage and salary survey every two years.  The survey provides information on wages and salaries for full-time and part-time employees in Alberta by occupation, geographic area and industry¹.  The latest survey was conducted in 2009 and for the first time wage and salary estimates have been prepared for Alberta’s 14 economic regions. 

In 2009, the average hourly wage was $22.24 in the West Yellowhead region², 8.6% less than the Alberta average of $24.34 per hour. 

The industries in the region with the largest number of reported employees were healthcare and social services, accommodation and food services, and transportation and warehousing.  The industry with the highest average wage was the utilities industry at $34.19 per hour, followed by oil and gas at $32.57.  The accommodation and food services industry had the lowest average wage at $12.13 per hour.

The average number of hours worked per week was 38.6 for the region and 37.3 for all of Alberta.  The industry with the most average hours per employee was the transportation and warehousing sector at 46.8 hours, followed by construction at 44.6 hours.    

As the below table indicates, labour shortage issues are not confined to Alberta’s urban core.  The West Yellowhead region had a 5.0% vacancy rate³ in 2009, well above the Alberta average of 3.0%, and also reported a higher rate of hiring difficulties⁴ than Alberta (50% versus 41%).  Labour shortages were particularly acute in transportation and warehousing, accommodation and food services, and healthcare and social services. 

¹ http://alis.alberta.ca/wageinfo 
² The number of survey respondents for small regions may be too small to provide accurate overall wage estimates
³ The percentage of total positions in this industry reported as unfilled for over four months
⁴ Percent of employers with hiring difficulties
⁵ Only industries with more than 200 reported employees were included in the table

Date Updated:
RDP-2414