Photo: The Canadian Press
Wages in the Okanagan region are significantly lower than the national average.
It doesn’t matter what your job is, if you live in the Thompson-Okanagan you’re probably getting paid less than the majority of your peers in Canada.
Statistics Canada has just released the results of a comprehensive survey of hourly, full-time wages in Canada, and salaries in the Thompson-Okanagan consistently come in below both British Columbia and national averages.
Across all 692 job categories outlined in the survey, workers in the Thompson-Okanagan are paid an average of $24.70 an hour. That’s $3 an hour less than the country-wide average of $27.70, and $3.25 an hour less than the provincial average of $27.95.
However, delving into specific industries reveals even starker contrasts.
One of the biggest wage disparities between the Thompson-Okanagan and the rest of the country is in a sector often touted as one of the economic drivers of the region: technology.
According to Statistics Canada, “computer and information systems professionals” (including professionals like software engineers, web designers and network managers) are making significantly less locally compared to their peers in other Canadian tech hubs.
Thompson-Okanagan tech workers’ wages also fall far below the national average.
In the Thompson-Okanagan, the average wage for a computer and information system professional is $27.80 a hour. That contrasts starkly with the $34.55 average in the Vancouver area, the $39.25 average in Ottawa, and the $36.40 hourly average across the entire country.
That means the average local tech worker makes almost $9 less than the national average, and more than $11 less than their peers in the nation’s capital.
Workers in another major Thompson-Okanagan industry, the agricultural sector, are also making significantly less than their peers.
Here, agricultural workers make on average $12.65 an hour. That compares to $13.75 in BC and $14.95 across the country. In the Vancouver area, agricultural workers make on average $15.70 an hour.
One sector where Thompson-Okanagan wages are somewhat competitive compared to the rest of the country is in healthcare.
Statistics Canada’s broad category including doctors, nurses, dentists and other healthcare practitioners shows that people in “health occupations” make on average $30.95 an hour locally.
That’s still a little below the national average of $31.80 an hour, but higher than health occupation wages in Halifax, Montreal and even the Vancouver area.
However, Thompson-Okanagan health care wages are still an average of $4.85 an hour lower than the provincial average.
Image: Okanagan Edge
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