Ontario's average wage falls for second month, now well below national average
Now a "have-not" province, Ontario has no clear economic strategy despite flurry of weak data.
While the average wage rose in every other province in August, Ontario’s average hourly wage fell for a second straight month, according to data released by Statistics Canada Thursday morning.
Ontario’s average wage fell to $30.25 in August, down from from a June, 2024 peak of $30.87 to a level below February’s average hourly wage of $30.34.
Alberta’s average hourly wage, once by far the strongest in Canada, has now slipped into third spot, behind British Columbia at $31.91 and Quebec at $30.80.
No clear economic strategy despite data
Despite Ontario’s worrying metrics, the Ford PCs have not provided a strategy to push investment into improved productivity and securing future wage growth.
A failure to address the GTA housing crisis has driven up household debt, which became sharply more expensive under the weight of higher interest rates. The impact on household budgets can be seen in Ontario’s retail sales, which remain 4.5 per cent below a peak in June 2022 while Canada excluding Ontario hit a new record in retail sales in August.
Weaker consumer demand has hurt jobs, with Ontario’s unemployment rate higher than the national average while over 13,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2018, when Premier Ford gave a “guarantee” he would created 300,000 manufacturing jobs to replace those lost in the Liberal era.
The wage fall comes as Ontario continues to de-unionize with Alberta-style labour laws that ban “card check” certification for most workers and give employers more opportunities to interfere in unionization efforts.
A weakened economy has turned Ontario from a contributor to confederation to a have-not province receiving equalization payments from Ottawa.
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What about adding the global context? It is interesting to see the national average and I thing global averages or averages by content would add some interesting context. $30/hr CAD means you purchasing goods and services from other countries online is only a click away. Global context would also help us understand the likelihood of others being able to afford/import the goods and services produced in Ontario.