Canada’s total non-farm payroll employment fell 47,000 in June, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The figure was 0.3% lower than May’s level, bringing total job losses to 442,600 since the country’s employment peak in October 2008.

The portion of industries experiencing job losses decreased to 60% during the month: 183 of the 305 industries included in the data shed jobs, down from 186, or 61%, in May.

The percentage peaked in January 2009 at 75%.

Most of the job losses in June were in the service sector, while losses within the goods sector were mainly in manufacturing.

Payroll employment in services declined by 29,200 , or 0.3% in June. Nearly half of these job losses were in the retail and wholesale trade sector

Employment fell in most provinces in June, especially in Ontario and Alberta. Manitoba was the only province to post an increase

Compared with a year earlier, the total hours worked by hourly paid employees in Canada fell by 1.8% in June.

The average weekly paycheque, including overtime, was $823.23 in June. That’s 1.8% higher than the value of the average paycheque this time last year.

Industries with the highest salary increases since then include health care and social assistance (up six%) and public administration (up 3.4%).

For the same year-over-year period, average weekly earnings fell 5.4% in manufacturing and 2.4% in educational services.

The service sector led the decline, shedding 29,200 jobs during the month. Nearly half (14,400) of those losses came in the retail and wholesale trade sector.

There were job losses in 51 of 86 of manufacturing industries in June, the fewest number of declines within manufacturing since July 2008.

Since the economic downturn began in October 2008, industries with the best growth in employment have been ones with strong ties to the public sector, such as provincial administration, nursing care facilities and general medical positions.

IE