ADP Canada Pay Insights shows a persistent pay premium for workers who switch employers; gross pay gaps are larger and regional and age differences are modest but present.
On a gross pay basis (wages plus bonuses and tips) job-stayers gained 4.4% while job-changers gained 9.6%, widening the compensation gap.
Younger workers (25–34) posted the strongest base-pay gains among stayers at 3.6%, while workers 55–85 recorded the weakest at 2.8%.
ADP's August 2026 Canada Pay Insights draws on anonymized payroll records covering roughly 1.6 million Canadian workers each month. It reports median base pay (regular wages) and gross pay (base pay plus bonuses and tips), and breaks results down by job mobility, industry, region, firm size, and age.
Headline numbers and why they matter Median base pay for private-sector workers who stayed at the same employer for 12 months rose 3.0% year-over-year. Workers who switched employers within the past 12 months—job-changers—saw median base pay growth of 5.6%. That 2.6 percentage-point spread is a persistent pay premium for mobility.
On a broader compensation measure, gross pay gains were larger across the board and the gap widened. Job-stayers' gross pay grew 4.4% while job-changers' gross pay rose 9.6%. This implies that bonuses and other variable pay are amplifying the reward for switching employers.
Wage growth was broadly consistent across both goods-producing and service-providing sectors. Among job-stayers, base pay rose 3.0% in natural resources and mining, construction, trade, transportation and utilities, information, financial activities, leisure and hospitality, and other services. Education and health services led service sectors at 3.3%, followed by professional and business services and manufacturing at 3.2%.
Employer size did not affect base pay growth for stayers: firms with 1–199 employees, 200–499, and 500+ all reported 3.0% base pay growth for job-stayers.
Regional and age differences to watch Provincial variation was present but limited. Prince Edward Island posted the highest base pay growth among stayers at 4.2%. Nova Scotia (3.7%) and New Brunswick (3.5%) also outpaced the national 3.0% rate. Yukon was the low outlier at 2.5%. Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec all recorded 3.0%.
Age-based results show stronger gains for younger workers among job-stayers. Those aged 25–34 recorded the strongest base pay growth at 3.6%. Workers 15–24 rose 3.1%, ages 35–54 were at 3.0%, and ages 55–85 posted the weakest gains at 2.8%.
The data indicates that voluntary mobility continues to be a reliable path to higher pay on a national level. For financial advisors and wealth managers, the gap between stayers and switchers matters when planning income growth, retirement savings, and replacement-income assumptions for pre-retirees.
ADP's payroll-based snapshot for August 2026 shows steady base-pay growth for stayers at 3.0% and materially larger gains for job-changers. Gross pay differentials amplify that effect, and modest regional and age patterns offer context for household planning and employer pay strategies.
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