Average weekly earnings · Table 14-10-0223-01

    Are wages keeping up with inflation?

    From January 2001 to August 2026, average weekly earnings in Canada rose 106.2% while the CPI rose 76.3%. Over the latest 12 months, earnings rose 3.7% and prices 3.0%. Check your province or your own pay.

    Mitey compares a stack of pay envelopes with a stack of groceries of almost the same height.

    Average weekly earnings vs CPI

    Did earnings keep up in Canada?

    Average weekly earnings, 2001 to 2025

    +98.3%

    $657.02 → $1,302.82 a week

    Consumer prices, 2001 to 2025

    +67.9%

    All-items CPI, Canada

    Real change in earnings

    +18.1%

    Earnings bought more at the end

    12 months to August 2026

    +3.7% vs +3.0%

    Earnings vs prices. Latest: $1,354.55 a week

    100125150175200200520102015202020252001 = 100
    Average weekly earnings Consumer prices (CPI)

    Source: Statistics Canada, table 14-10-0223-01 (average weekly earnings, latest August 2026); Statistics Canada, table 18-10-0005-01 (annual average CPI, 1914 to 2025); Statistics Canada, table 18-10-0004-01 (monthly CPI, latest September 2026, released October 19, 2026). Retrieved October 30, 2026. Yearly earnings are the average of the 12 seasonally adjusted monthly estimates, calculated by InflationTool.ca. The CPI is not seasonally adjusted; over whole years and 12-month spans the difference is small.

    Your own pay

    Has your raise beaten inflation?

    To keep up with prices in Canada, you needed

    $60,368in 2025

    You are $1,632 ahead: your pay buys 2.7% more than in 2019.

    Source: Statistics Canada, table 18-10-0005-01 (annual average CPI, 1914 to 2025). Retrieved October 30, 2026.

    Straight answers

    Questions people ask

    What wage figure is this?

    Average weekly earnings including overtime, for all employees in the industrial aggregate excluding unclassified businesses, seasonally adjusted, from Statistics Canada’s Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (table 14-10-0223-01). It is an average across all payroll jobs, not the earnings of a typical worker.

    Why can average earnings rise faster than any one person’s pay?

    The average also moves when the mix of jobs changes. In 2020, many lower-paid jobs disappeared temporarily, which pushed the average up even though individual pay did not change. Compare long periods, and use the personal check with your own pay.

    How are real wages calculated?

    Real wage change = (1 + wage growth) ÷ (1 + CPI growth) − 1. Positive means earnings bought more than at the start; negative means they bought less.

    Educational information, not financial advice. Read how the CPI and these tools work.

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