Highlights From Employment, Earnings and Hours, April 2021

With April reference month results, year-over-year (Apr 2021 vs Apr 2020) and year-to-date (Jan-Apr 21 vs Jan-Apr 20) are beginning to show the rebounds in economic activity from the unprecedented declines observed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Payroll —

  • Nova Scotia had 419,067 payroll employees in April 2021, up 0.4% (+1,722) compared to March 2021, and up 15.1% (+55,064) compared to April 2020
  • In Jan-Apr 2021, Nova Scotia’s payroll employment increased 2.5% over the same period last year.
    • Nationally, the largest payroll employment increases were observed in New Brunswick (+5.3%) and Prince Edward Island (+4.6%).

Weekly Earnings —

  • In Jan-Apr 2021, average weekly earnings were up 1.7% in Nova Scotia’s goods-producing sectors over January-April 2020. Goods sector wages were up for construction and manufacturing sectors.

LEARN MORE: find more info and data from this release.