Wage and inflation trends
The average base wage increase in large collective agreements declined to 1.4 per cent in 2015, down from 1.7 per cent in 2014. This was above the rate of inflation for the year, but is unlikely to be above the rate of inflation during the average 45-month duration of these agreements.
Average wage increases in public sector settlements at 1.2 per cent trailed the private sector average of 1.8 per cent, as they have for five of the last six years.
With the decline in the resource economy and continued austerity, wage settlements declined in particular in natural resource-based industries, utilities, construction and the public sector.
Average wage increases declined in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and Alberta from 2014 to 2015, but rose in Prince Edward Island and for agreements in workplaces covered by federal legislation, reflecting the different economic and political climates in these jurisdictions.
