Key Small Business Statistics - July 2012

Statistics Canada's Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) publishes average weekly earnings at the enterprise level based on weekly payroll data. Data include gross pay, as well as overtime and bonuses, commissions and other special payments, before major deductions such as income taxes, employment insurance contributions, etc., but exclude taxable allowances and benefits, and employer contributions to employment insurance, pension plans and other welfare plans. Average weekly earnings are derived by dividing total weekly payrolls by payroll employment (see How many people work for small businesses?). SEPH excludes self-employed persons not on a payroll and does not cover the following industries: agriculture, fishing and trapping, private household services, religious organizations and military personnel of defence services. The data shown below also exclude employment in public administration, public utilities (water, sewage and other systems), postal services, public transit, educational services, and institutional and other government-funded health care services, but include employment in the CBC, private practices (physicians, dentists and other health practitioners), and beer and liquor stores.

In 2011, an average worker in Canada's private sector earned approximately $852 per week (or about $44,304 per year) (Table 8 and Figure 8). Generally, employees' weekly earnings were positively related to the size of the business. Employees working for businesses with fewer than 100 employees earned below the average with weekly earnings of $763 ($39,676 in annual earnings). Those working for medium-sized firms (more than 100 but fewer than 500 employees) also earned below the average with weekly earnings of $832 ($43,264 in annual earnings), whereas those working for large firms (500 employees or more) earned above the average with weekly earnings of $941 ($48,932 in annual earnings). In the service-producing sector, micro-firms had the highest weekly earnings of all small businesses at $784 (or $40,768 per year). This may be because employment in larger small firms is concentrated in the three lowest-paying industries, namely retail trade; accommodation and food services; and arts, entertainment and recreation.

Figure 8: Average Weekly Earnings in the Goods-Producing and Service-Producing Sectors by Firm Size in the Private Sector, 2011^{1, 2}

[Description of Figure 8]
Source: Statistics Canada, Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH), April 2012, and calculations by Industry Canada.

Note 1: SEPH data exclude self-employed workers who are not on a payroll, and employees in the following industries: agriculture, fishing and trapping, private household services, religious organizations and military personnel of defence services. Data in this figure also exclude employment in public administration, public utilities (water, sewage and other systems), postal services, public transit, educational services, and institutional and other government-funded health care services, but include employment in the CBC, private practices (physicians, dentists and other health practitioners), and beer and liquor stores. A technical note on the separation of public and private sector employment is available upon request by contacting the Small Business Branch of Industry Canada at SBB-DGPE.

Note 2: By conventional Statistics Canada definition, the goods-producing sector consists of North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes 11 to 31–33, while NAICS codes 41 to 91 define the service-producing sector.

On average in 2011, employees in the goods-producing sector were paid $333 more per week than those working in the service-producing sector. The difference in earnings between the two sectors was greatest in large firms at approximately $501 per week or an annual average differential of $26,052. However, goods-producing employees also worked longer hours, so the difference in earnings per hour would be less pronounced.