StasCan: journeypersons’ incomes vary according to region
Journeypersons’ incomes vary significantly according to where they are employed.
New data from Statistics Canada looks into the employment income of those workers who are newly certified in the skilled trades. The report, which is based on data from 2018, found that those working in the North and in Western Canada earn higher incomes than those in the Central and Eastern regions.
Prior to the pandemic, a newly certified journeypersons working in the territories earned nearly $86,000. Those in Alberta ($63,920), Saskatchewan ($57,500), and British Columbia ($55,020) also had among the highest median annual incomes, while those in Nova Scotia ($43,970) and Prince Edward Island ($39,040) had the lowest.
The median national employment income of the 54,475 journeypersons who obtained certificates in the trades in 2018 was $52,250.
Despite leading all other provinces in earnings for journeypersons, Alberta, as well as Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, have all faced economic challenges in recent years. After the collapse in crude oil prices in 2014 to the end of 2018, employment numbers in trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations fell in Alberta (-8.6%), Saskatchewan (-5.2%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (-4.5%). Over this same period, new certifications in the trades were down by more than a tenth in these provinces, while new registrations in apprenticeship programs fell by nearly half.
Median employment for those in their first years of certification also fell. In 2014, a newly certified journeyperson in Alberta had a median annual income of $85,780 in their first year. By 2018, that figure had fallen to $63,920—a drop in earnings of more than 25 percent. Newfoundland and Labrador (-38.4%) and Saskatchewan (-15.1%) also saw considerable declines in first-year earnings for newly certified journeypersons over this period.
By contrast, incomes rose in Quebec and Ontario. Housing construction and investments in infrastructure projects led to strong employment growth in both provinces’ construction industries and trade-related occupations. While the median annual earnings at certification remain lower than in Western Canada, first-year earnings rose by more than 7% from 2014 to 2018, to $50,830 in Ontario and $47,540 in Quebec.
Statistics Canada’s analysis also highlighted the transient nature of the trades workforces.
In 2018, one year after certification, 6.8% of journeypersons either lived or worked in a province or territory other than their place of certification. This was down from the peak of 9.4% in 2014, and marks the lowest point since 2008, the first year for which data are available.
The data also showed that those journeypersons who choose formal training tend to earn higher incomes—although not initially—than trade qualifiers.
In 2010, the median annual incomes of would-be trade qualifiers was just over a quarter higher (+27.7%) than the median annual income of individuals who eventually certified through an apprenticeship program. The gap in median income decreased as apprentices neared certification. By the year of certification, apprentices were making 6.3% more than trade qualifiers. In 2018, four years after certification, the median employment income of those who completed an apprenticeship program ($63,560) was more than $3,000 higher than the income of trade qualifiers ($60,260).
Finally, the data show that difficult times could be ahead for journeypersons. The COVID-19 pandemic caused sharp drops in the number of certified apprentices in 2020.
Preliminary data suggest that certifications in the trades decreased by almost half (-48.7%) in the first nine months of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019, further representing lost wages for many would-be newly certified journeypersons.