Wage Rate Information

Find a wage or salary for a particular job or industry.

BC Stats. Provincial overall comparisons and wage rates by industry are available in the monthly Earnings and Employment Trends publication. Included are figures on persons employed, actual dollars earned by industry and percentage change data to help highlight recent trends or structural shifts.

• View Earnings and Employment Trends data tables, March 2024 (PDF, 1MB)
• View Earnings and Employment Trends data tables, March 2024 (XLS)

Government of Canada’s Job Bank. The Explore Careers by Wages tool allows you to compare wages for different occupations or different locations.

• Compare wages

National Household Survey (NHS) provides annual employment income for full-time/full-year workers by detailed occupation at the provincial level. Note: the survey asks for current occupation or if not working during the reference week, the job of longest duration from January of the previous year. Income data is based on the previous calendar year's income, and the job may have changed during that time.

• View NHS data tables

Statistics Canada collects data on Construction Union Wage Rates for major metropolitan areas by trade on a quarterly basis. Access data from Statistics Canada's data tables. See also Statistics Canada's quarterly publication Capital Expenditure Price Statistics (Catalogue 62-007-XWE).

• View income tables

WorkBC. Search career profiles to find low, median and high wages for occupations.

• View career profiles

Labour Relations Board British Columbia. Find B.C. union contract settlement increases posted on the website.

• Search for collective agreements

Adjusting Wage Rates

Common approaches to wage adjustment are to use wage movements (contract settlements), inflation, or some combination.

Sources for B.C. union contract settlement increases, monthly provincial overall comparisons, and the monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS) are noted above.

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Wages adjusted for inflation usually use the Consumer Price Index, often referred to as a COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment). Important to note is that the Consumer Price Index is produced monthly, but is not for any one day of the month, as prices are collected over several weeks. A 12-month period of change should be specified as being over the same month a year ago; better yet is to use the annual average CPI compared to a year earlier, as this will smooth any monthly fluctuations. In a contract, it is also important to specify whether the index used is for British Columbia, Vancouver, Victoria, or Canada, and if it is using a sub-component such as housing. Monthly and annual data are available in the Consumer Price Index release.

• Find consumer price index publications