Average wages for working Canadians outpaced inflation on a year-over-year basis in April, according to data from Statistics Canada.

April’s earnings sheet, which was released on Thursday morning, reports Canadians earned $1,297 per week on average. That’s a 4.4 per cent increase year-over-year, while inflation increased just 1.7 per cent in the same period.

Average wages also rose 0.8 per cent compared to the month prior.

Real estate, information, finance see largest gains

Certain Canadian industries have fared better than others in terms of wages.

Among the sectors that saw the largest gains were information and cultural industries, where average weekly wages grew just over 10 per cent. Canadians in that sector earned $1,875 per week, on average.

Real estate also got a bump over the last year. Average weekly earnings grew 9.7 per cent for an average of $1,361 per week, or about $120 more than the same time last year.

Employees in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction made $2,492 per week on average – the highest yield of any recorded sector – and saw those wages rise about five per cent from the year before.

Job vacancies drop

Year-over-year declines were recorded in health care and social assistance (-23.9 per cent), accommodation and food services (-21.7 per cent), and construction (-13.8 per cent).

That contraction was felt most in B.C., where vacancies fell 8.5 per cent, Alberta (-9.4 per cent), New Brunswick (-16.8 per cent), and Newfoundland and Labrador (-26.3 per cent).

Vacancies were little changed in the remaining six provinces.

Source: CP24