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Base pay is expected to increase by 2.8 per cent for the average worker in 2017, up slightly from the 2.6 per cent seen in 2016, but not much higher than core inflation.

Companies do see fewer salary freezes next year compared with 2016. Aon Hewitt says that 4.5 per cent of firms surveyed froze salaries in 2016, while only 0.4 per cent expect to have a freeze in 2017.

Canada’s labour market has been deteriorating for two years now, with a steadily rising unemployment rate and stagnant wages. Economists at TD Securities note that the country has averaged only 8,000 new jobs a month in the past six months. The latest job report showed that Canada’s unemployment rate rose from 6.9 per cent to seven per cent in August.

While the Canadian economy added 26,000 new jobs last month, Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, notes that the overall trend is grim.

“It does nothing to break the bigger picture of very modest job growth, a stagnant unemployment rate and slowing wage growth,” he said in a report earlier this month. “Looking past the usual drama of the volatile monthly figures, the Canadian job market is simply stuck in a rut.”

Aon Hewitt says that certain sectors can expect to see higher than average salary increases. For employees working in the auto industry, chemicals, consumer products and life sciences sectors, salary increases will average three per cent. For high-tech and professional services companies, salaries will rise by 2.9 per cent.