A recent BMO Survey found that Canadians are more optimistic this year about their company’s growth prospects and job security.

The report found that 64 per cent of Canadians were comfortable with their job security, up 13 per cent from last year. Forty-one per cent believe that their company is growing and will be hiring in 2012 and 39 per cent expect a promotion or raise this year.

This optimistic view is reflected in a recent report from Statistics Canada. The report found that there was an overall increase in average weekly earnings in all provinces in non-farming sectors. The report goes to May 2012.

In a year-over-year basis, it was found that earnings increased by 2.5 per cent. There are some reasons for this increase but increased hours wasn’t one of them. In fact, non-farm payroll employees worked an average of 32.9 hours per week which was unchanged from the previous month and from 12 months before.

So wages have increased but in what industries or sectors? This isn’t surprising if you live in a city but construction had the biggest weekly average increase with a 5.3 per cent increase to $1,133.09. Educational services increased 4.3 per cent to $990.65; Retail saw an increase of four per cent to $536.89; Food services saw a three per cent increase to $366.63; Manufacturing saw an increase of 2.6 per cent to $1008.76 but health care and social assistance fell 2.3 per cent to $793.48. This does seem odd as health care is considered one of the growing industries.

Not all provinces saw the same level of wage increase. The bigger provinces – Ontario and British Columbia have two of the lower increases with less than two per cent. Manitoba has the lowest increase with 1.1 per cent with an average weekly wage of $820.71.

Saskatchewan has the biggest yearly increase from the previous 12 months. That province saw a 5.4 per cent increase with earnings being higher than the national average since 2011.

Canada overall saw an increase of just under three per cent.

So the numbers show that wages are increasing and people seem to be regaining their confidence in their companies. Going back to the recent BMO survey, the Canadians surveyed said that they were more confident with their job security with 64 per cent stating that this year versus just 51 per cent in 2011. The highest rate was seen in Manitoba and Saskatchewan with 81 per cent comfortable with overall job security.

Are you comfortable with your job security? Do you think you’ll be getting a raise or promotion within the next year?