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Key Small Business Statistics - July 2008
How much do employees of small businesses earn?
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 2007, an average worker in Canada's private sector earned approximately $762 per week (Table 9 and Figure 6). 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 $694, whereas those working for medium-sized firms (more than 100 but fewer than 500 employees) and large firms (500 employees or more) earned above the average with weekly earnings of $798 and $827 respectively. In the service-producing sector, micro-firms had the highest weekly earnings of all small businesses at $696. 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.
| Number of Employees | Private Sector | Goods-Producing Sector2 | Service-Producing Sector2 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
[Description of Table 9]
Source: Statistics Canada, Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH), April 2008, 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 table 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 Customer Services at sbrp-rppe@ic.gc.ca. 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. |
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| 0–4 | $727 | $808 | $696 |
| 5–19 | $666 | $848 | $604 |
| 20–49 | $705 | $909 | $623 |
| 50–99 | $725 | $929 | $639 |
| Small Enterprises (fewer than 100) | $694 | $879 | $633 |
| 100–299 | $784 | $956 | $690 |
| 300–499 | $849 | $996 | $759 |
| Medium-Sized Enterprises (100–499) | $798 | $967 | $709 |
| Large Enterprises (500 or more) | $827 | $1106 | $722 |
| Average | $762 | $977 | $676 |
[Description of figure 6]Source: Statistics Canada, Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH), April 2008, 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 Customer Services at sbrp-rppe@ic.gc.ca.
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 2007, employees in the goods-producing sector were paid $301 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 $384 per week or an annual average differential of $19 968. However, goods-producing employees also worked longer hours, so the difference in earnings per hour would be less pronounced.