New CHRR+ dashboard breaks down pay across job titles
Canada’s support workforce of front-line, service, production and logistics roles that keep the country running, are a labour market that is far more uneven than many HR professionals realize.
New national data from Canadian HR Reporter’s Canada Annual Salaries per Industry dashboard shows that only 24 out of 77 support job titles earn more than the national support salary average of $49,974. In effect, just one in three of Canada’s essential occupations pays above the mean, and many of these leave room for better-paid competition.
For HR leaders grappling with recruitment and retention, this finding underscore intense wage compression, especially in service-heavy sectors; and provincial and industry-level pay variation dramatically shaping labour mobility.
Where support wages shine
The dashboard shows a staggering $17,500 gap between the highest-paying province for support workers (Alberta at $57,701) and the lowest (Prince Edward Island at $40,187). Western and central provinces—Alberta, Ontario and B.C.—have effectively established higher wage floors for the support class, driven by stronger economic hubs, higher productivity industries and larger urban markets.
Atlantic Canada, meanwhile, consistently sits well below national benchmarks, reflecting more service-oriented, lower-margin economies that struggle to raise wages.
Industry-level differences are even more pronounced. Finance and Insurance leads all industries for support pay, offering an average of $85,000, or roughly 70% above the national benchmark. Auditors and claims adjusters earn near the top of the support range at $90,000, while insurance brokers average $75,000.
Other industries with standout support wages include:
- Mining, Quarrying, and Oil & Gas Extraction – truck drivers averaging $65,000
- Utilities – utility maintenance workers also at $65,000
- Arts, Entertainment and Recreation – copywriters averaging $65,000, unusually exceeding specialized roles in the same industry
- Healthcare – buoyed by registered nurses at $90,000
On the other end of the spectrum, service-heavy industries offer minimal wage headroom. Other Services sits at just $34,500 on average, and Accommodation and Food Services follows at $36,600, where roles such as cleaners, laundry workers, dishwashers and valets are clustered tightly around the minimum.
A two-track support labour market
What emerges clearly from the dashboard is a divided support workforce. Capital- and infrastructure-intensive industries offer strong compensation rooted in organizational scale and technical requirements. Meanwhile, customer-facing service industries continue to anchor wages at the bottom of the labour market, intensifying recruitment challenges and turnover risk.
Why this matters for HR
HR professionals overseeing support talent pipelines must:
- Account for stark regional salary differences when hiring nationally
- Benchmark pay against industry leaders, especially in high-demand roles such as RN positions, auditors, and technical trades
- Prepare for continued pressure on attraction and retention in lower-paying service sectors
- Use real-time salary data to anticipate wage movements in competitive provinces and industries
The insights in Canadian HR Reporter’s Canada Annual Salaries per Industry dashboard offer an indispensable tool for determining whether your bedrock compensation strategy is aligned with national realities.
