Design Pics / Corey Hochachka via Getty Images Fist full of money

If you’re a typical wage-earning Canadian, your paycheque is losing ground to the rising cost of living. Despite all the talk of food price spikes and rising housing costs, overall inflation in Canada is tame right now — prices are up 1.7 per cent over the past year, according to StatsCan.

Virtually all components of the consumer price index are rising in price, but outside of food and beverages, the price growth is tame. (Chart: Statistics Canada) Unfortunately, Canadian paycheques are even tamer. StatsCan reported Thursday that wage growth in Canada has slowed, and weekly earnings are up only 0.7 per cent in the past year, to an average of $960. That’s quite a slide from the 2- to 3-per-cent wage growth range Canadians were seeing until about mid-2015. Some of the blame belongs to the oil price crash. Wages in the oil-producing provinces of Alberta, Newfoundland and Saskatchewan have fallen over the past year, dragging down the national average. Alberta wages are down 2.2 per cent in a year, while in Newfoundland they’re down 1.4 per cent and in Saskatchewan they’ve fallen by 0.3 per cent.