Payroll trivia

• In 2006, there were roughly 17.5 million people (aged 15 and over) in the Canadian workforce. Of that number, 53.1% were male and 46.9% were female.
• In 2006, approximately 82% of the people in the workforce had full-time employment and 18% had part-time.
• The tightening labour market has pushed up wages. In 2006, total labour income grew by 6.1%, well above the inflation rate of 2.2%. Employees’ average hourly wage was $19.72 in 2006, compared with $15.59 in 1997. When inflation is taken into account, that meant a 4.8% average increase.
• With wallets generally getting fatter over the past five years, Canadian households have increased their spending as well. In 2000, households spent an average of $55,614 on food, shelter, clothing, transportation, taxes and other things; by 2005, this total had climbed to $66,857.
• Where you live helps determine how much you spend—rural households spent an average of $12,210 less than urban ones in 2005.
• Home ownership also affects household spending—annual expenditures of homeowners are almost double those of renters. Also, couples with children spend far more than single people.
• Of the average $66,857 in household spending in 2005, about 20% went to taxes at the federal, provincial and municipal levels. Most of the rest was spent on shelter and household operations (14%) and food (11%). Other components of after-tax household spending included recreation (6%), tobacco products and alcoholic beverages (2%), and personal care (2%).
• In 2006, men earned an average of $41,900 a year and women earned $26,800, taking into account all wages, full-time, part-time and seasonal. For full-time workers only, average wages were $55,700 for men and $39,200 for women.
• Education is a big factor in earning power. University-educated people working full-time earned an average of $61,823 in 2001, compared to $41,825 for college graduates and $36,278 for people with high school diplomas.
• Canadians’ assets in registered pension plans (RPPs), Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) and the CPP/QPP have doubled in value since 1990 (taking inflation into account). By 2003, Canadians had more than $1.3 trillion saved in these accounts for their senior years. RPPs account for the biggest chunk of this total, at about 63%; these plans are established by companies to provide pension benefits to their employees when they retire. RRSPs account for 30%; these are personal retirement savings plans offered by financial institutions. The government-run CPP/QPP retirement plans account for about 6%.
• Generous employer pension benefits and other financial resources leave many 50-something retirees with little need to keep working. One in five Canadian retire before they reach 60, the age when public pensions kick in. Fewer than 1% of workers collect an employer-sponsored pension at any age from 50 to 54. But 5% of men and 4% of women retire at the age of 55, which is when many employer pensions offer unrestricted benefits to long-term employees.
• Once retired, it seems that very little can persuade 50-something pensioners to go back to work. In 2005, only half of them worked for some pay the year after they retired, and only 30% of early retirees earned more than $5,000. Seemingly content not to have a boss any longer, many of them did not even want to be their own boss—fewer than 1 in 10 young pensioners reported self-employment income in the year after they retired. The likelihood of re-employment falls the older one is at retirement age.
• Personal and corporate income tax accounts for approximately 60% of federal budgetary revenues. The federal government collects personal income tax on behalf of all provinces and territories except Quebec, and then gives the provinces their share of the revenues collected.
• In 1978, a small group of payroll professionals decided to review proposed revisions to Unemployment Insurance and the new Record of Employment form. The group provided valuable advice to the Canada Employment and Immigration Department, and then incorporated to become a permanent body: The Canadian Payroll Association.

- Excerpt from the Payroll Trivia section of Understanding Your Pay: The Canadian Guide for Communicating Pay to Your Employees, second edition (ISBN 978-0-9736167-0-5 (CD-ROM), © 2007, The Canadian Payroll Association)