The average hourly wage across professions is 15 cents higher in the Cariboo than across Canada, according to Statistics Canada data released last week.
However, there are some significant differences within specific fields. The data shows that in the Cariboo, wages are higher for jobs in trades, transport and equipment operation, natural resources and agriculture and manufacturing and utilities than in Canada as a whole. Meanwhile, average wages are lower in the Cariboo for jobs in management, art, culture, recreation and sport, sales and service and for natural and applied sciences (although the data in the last category is of greater variance).
Cariboo Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett welcomed the news that we are on par with Canada.
“With our cost of housing etcetera, we’re in good shape.”
According to WelcomeBC, renting an average 2,000 sq. ft. home with one car and travelling 6.4 km daily, expenses would be $4,831 a month in 100 Mile House, $6,769 in Vancouver, $4,950 in Prince George, $5,110 in Kamloops, $4,899 in Williams Lake and $5,526 in Revelstoke, including basic tax on a hypothetical $56,000 salary.
The types of industries operating in the Cariboo plays into the regional differences of average wages according to Fiona MacPhail, a professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Northern British Columbia.
“The higher average wage in manufacturing occupations in the Cariboo arises partly because these employed workers are predominately found in the certain high wage manufacturing sub-sectors, such as pulp and paper, located in the Cariboo,” adding that there are more factors to consider other than just the average wage.
“While the average wage is important for understanding the economic well-being of workers, it is also necessary to have information on other factors such as [the] number of hours worked, benefits, and job security. Taking a broader perspective, well-being also depends upon access to publicly provided services, education and health care, as well as access to the natural environment. One could argue that these two categories work in different ways for people of the Cariboo.”
Barnett says that based on the wage data, the Cariboo is in good shape but that we need to get more of the (well-paying) natural resource jobs.
“You have to be very cautious about increasing salaries because every time you increase salaries the cost of living goes up… If you can keep the cost of living down, that’s the main thing. “
See the National Occupation Classification on statcan.gc.ca to see what’s included in each category.