ADP data: Job changers in Canada earn faster wage growth, but the pay bump is modest

The useful part

It can pay to change jobs, says new data on Canadian wages | Financial Post Advertisement oop Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Data showed there was a 5.2 per cent premium for job changers compared with job stayers. Median base pay for job changers, those who have switched jobs within the last 12 months, climbed 5.6 per cent.

How it works

• Article content Work FP Work touches on HR strategy, labour economics, office culture, technology and more.
• Article content Base pay refers to a worker's contract rate of hourly wages or salaried pay, which is important to understanding labour market tightness and structural trends in wages, said Richardson...
• Gross pay, which includes base pay as well as commissions, tips, bonuses and overtime, helps indicate labour market activity, such as the decision to work more hours, she added.
• Article content Richardson said gross pay data indicated there was a 5.2 per cent premium for job changers compared with job stayers.
• Article content The ADP report, which was released Thursday, is the first edition of a new monthly labour market report tracking wage trends using anonymized payroll data of 1.6 million workers across Canada.

What to take from it

Article content Advertisement 1 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Median gross pay for job stayers was up 4.4 per cent compared with the 9.6 per cent boost that job changers saw year over year in August, according to the ADP report. "What that tells you is that there is a lot of labour market activity," she said on the call.

Example or evidence

• Article content "It is pretty standard and well accepted that wage gains tend to be bigger for people that are switching jobs," Janzen said, adding this is a trend that has been observed in other countries.
• Article content However, with a weak economic growth backdrop, Janzen said people are more hesitant about changing jobs while employers are also less likely to hire due to the extra costs.
• Article content Across the country, Prince Edward Island posted the greatest year-over-year increase in base pay for job stayers, at 4.2 per cent, while Yukon had the lowest change in base pay at 2.5 per cent.
• However, looking at gross pay, Yukon posted the greatest year-over-year increase at 5.3 per cent, while Manitoba was the lowest, at four per cent.

Details worth keeping

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Related coverage

• Wealthprofessional: New ADP data reveals a persistent pay gap between workers who stay and those who switch employers in Canada's private sector
• Cbsnews: Some workers are seeing stronger wage growth by switching jobs, while others are "job-hugging" because of AI, research shows.
• Independent: Job switchers saw a 15 percent pay increase - compared to a 4 percent increase for those who stayed put