Archived - Average Annual Wage Adjustments in Major Settlements

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Released on February 16, 2009

December 2008

Major collective bargaining settlements reached in December 2008 provided base rate wage increases averaging 3.2% annually over the term of the contracts. These results are based on a review of 18 settlements with a coverage of 31,780 employees.

When the parties to these settlements previously negotiated, the resulting wage adjustments averaged 2.7%, a smaller gain than in their current settlements. Contract durations in December averaged 35.2 months, compared to 38.3 months in the previous round of settlements.

Percentage Wage Adjustments in Major Settlements by Month, 2008

Wage adjustments in the public sector averaged 3.4% and 2.5% in the private sector. The public sector figure was influenced by a Government of New Brunswick education sector agreement, providing 8,000 elementary and secondary school teachers with increases averaging 3.7%. The private-sector figure was influenced in part by an agreement between Ispat-Sidbec and 1,400 employees who received a wage increase of 1.3% and 2 agreements with Rio Tinto Alcan providing 1,960 employees with a wage increase averaging 2.8%; all three agreements were in Quebec.

Percentage Distribution of Employees by Size of Wage Adjustment, by Public and Private Sectors,

On a jurisdictional basis, the largest concentration of employees (26.5% of all workers) was in Ontario, where wage adjustments averaged 3.3%.  The largest average annual wage increase was in Alberta at 6.1% and the smallest adjustment was in Quebec at 2.2%.

On an industry basis, the largest concentration of employees (45.6% of all workers) was in the education, health, and social services sector; wage adjustments in this sector averaged 3.5%; the largest average wage adjustment was also recorded in this sector (3.5%); the smallest average adjustment was in the manufacturing sector at 2.2%.

In the following tables, COLA is the abbreviation for Cost-of-Living Allowance.

Sectors

 2008
OctoberNovemberDecember
Public Sector3.93.13.4
Private Sector2.04.02.5

All Industries/Jurisdictions

 2008
OctoberNovemberDecember
Average Annual Adjustment3.63.33.2
Non-COLA3.63.33.4
COLA-2.72.1
 
First-Year Adjustment3.73.43.6
Non-COLA3.73.43.8
COLA-3.12.0

Industries

 2008
OctoberNovemberDecember
Primary Industries-3.2-
Manufacturing1.51.32.2
Wholesale and Retail Trade2.14.8-
Transportation3.0-2.6
Information and Culture2.0--
Finance and Professional Services2.0-3.2
Education, Health, and Social Services4.23.13.5
Entertainment and Hospitality-3.2-
Public Administration-4.53.3

Jurisdictions

 2008
OctoberNovemberDecember
Newfoundland and Labrador5.0--
New Brunswick--3.7
Quebec4.92.02.2
Ontario2.93.03.3
Manitoba1.2-2.8
Saskatchewan3.04.44.2
Alberta5.04.86.1
British Columbia2.72.52.4
Federal Jurisdiction2.0-3.0

Quarterly Tables

Yearly Tables

Major settlements are those involving bargaining units of 500 or more employees.

For additional information, please view the Technical Notes (PDF format, 200kb).

Source: Strategic Policy, Analysis, and Workplace Information Directorate, Labour Program, HRSDC.

For more information, contact us.

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Date Modified:
2011-11-21