Triumphantly returning from the Provincial championships, gold medal in hand, I am back, dear reader (no not my gold medal, I am far past those capabilities, my daughters now are both holders of Gold Medals). I was always impressed with this kind of stuff and thought how expensive they are, however, after convening a tournament and finding out just how cheap all this is, there is a little bit of tarnish (but still, it is the actual achievement that is to be celebrated, not necessarily any tangible reward from it). A very proud parent.On the finance side of things, this weekend was very expensive, but hopefully the last one for a while. Parents with children on travelling sports teams, or that have to travel because of their kids’ past times, have my sympathies. I think you could write a finance blog specifically on that topic, alone! I know of parents that spend upwards of $10,000 a year per child for hockey teams (after all the bills are tallied). Wow!
A couple of my postings have made it into the world of Carnivals:
Well one posting at least, thought I had other ones, but that other e-mail was a duplicate. I will have a few other postings mentioned later in the week, I hope.I spoke to a few of the folks who work at the Hilton Hotel London, and they mentioned to me the importance of sending a “good job” e-mail to their bosses, because they do get “atta boy” points for that, so I will be sending one of those out, after I finish a few other things. Remember to thank the people who make your lives simpler or easier!
OK, so I am going on vacation, but I will leave you the following useful video to digest:
Snl_dontbuystuff
Uploaded by Some Guy
Enjoy and have fun, I’ll talk to you again on Monday (I might post on the weekend, we’ll see)
“The average weekly earnings of payroll employees (seasonally adjusted) increased $1.06 (+0.1%) from a month earlier to $764.12 in February.”, pronounced Stats Canada, and that is a good thing. Given that employment is also increasing in Canada as well, that is a good thing!
The number they quote is a little weird $764 a month is only about $9,000 per year, but I think it is a composite of ALL incomes, so it includes part time and high school students and such. Have a look at this table it is fascinating to read (and reprinted without permission, so check out the Stats Canada version as well):
| Average weekly earnings (including overtime) for all employees | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industry group (North American Industry Classification System) | February 2006 | January 2007 | February 2007 | January to February 2007 | February 2006 to February 2007 | Year-to-date average 2007 | ||||||||
| Seasonally adjusted | ||||||||||||||
| $ | % change | |||||||||||||
| Industrial aggregate | 740.18 | 763.06 | 764.12 | 0.1 | 3.2 | 3.1 | ||||||||
| Forestry, logging and support | 959.52 | 979.32 | 989.48 | 1.0 | 3.1 | 2.8 | ||||||||
| Mining and oil and gas | 1,335.90 | 1,393.04 | 1,391.25 | -0.1 | 4.1 | 4.4 | ||||||||
| Utilities | 1,081.69 | 1,100.87 | 1,103.97 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 2.2 | ||||||||
| Construction | 898.07 | 907.34 | 915.17 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 1.6 | ||||||||
| Manufacturing | 898.52 | 926.29 | 923.17 | -0.3 | 2.7 | 2.8 | ||||||||
| Wholesale trade | 862.76 | 898.54 | 907.21 | 1.0 | 5.2 | 4.8 | ||||||||
| Retail trade | 484.30 | 485.67 | 490.96 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 0.8 | ||||||||
| Transportation and warehousing | 785.75 | 795.32 | 798.40 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 1.5 | ||||||||
| Information and cultural industries | 922.40 | 957.50 | 955.35 | -0.2 | 3.6 | 3.8 | ||||||||
| Finance and insurance | 939.81 | 979.76 | 989.95 | 1.0 | 5.3 | 4.5 | ||||||||
| Real estate and rental and leasing | 664.63 | 702.50 | 704.60 | 0.3 | 6.0 | 5.8 | ||||||||
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 949.91 | 976.26 | 975.32 | -0.1 | 2.7 | 2.4 | ||||||||
| Management of companies and enterprises | 968.92 | 915.36 | 929.31 | 1.5 | -4.1 | -4.2 | ||||||||
| Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services | 586.38 | 645.60 | 641.63 | -0.6 | 9.4 | 9.6 | ||||||||
| Educational services | 816.98 | 821.46 | 815.54 | -0.7 | -0.2 | 0.4 | ||||||||
| Health care and social assistance | 672.95 | 695.29 | 694.58 | -0.1 | 3.2 | 3.1 | ||||||||
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 429.46 | 440.95 | 441.21 | 0.1 | 2.7 | 1.8 | ||||||||
| Accommodation and food services | 292.00 | 325.55 | 319.69 | -1.8 | 9.5 | 10.9 | ||||||||
| Other services (excluding public administration) | 568.73 | 598.23 | 596.57 | -0.3 | 4.9 | 5.3 | ||||||||
| Public administration | 916.35 | 949.24 | 957.31 | 0.9 | 4.5 | 4.1 | ||||||||
| Provinces and territories | ||||||||||||||
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 683.04 | 702.86 | 704.23 | 0.2 | 3.1 | 3.0 | ||||||||
| Prince Edward Island | 599.78 | 625.02 | 632.08 | 1.1 | 5.4 | 4.8 | ||||||||
| Nova Scotia | 652.15 | 666.77 | 669.56 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 2.4 | ||||||||
| New Brunswick | 678.46 | 696.84 | 702.26 | 0.8 | 3.5 | 3.3 | ||||||||
| Quebec | 692.66 | 707.63 | 716.07 | 1.2 | 3.4 | 3.1 | ||||||||
| Ontario | 778.35 | 798.01 | 798.69 | 0.1 | 2.6 | 2.5 | ||||||||
| Manitoba | 669.43 | 686.10 | 696.29 | 1.5 | 4.0 | 3.4 | ||||||||
| Saskatchewan | 683.79 | 710.55 | 714.78 | 0.6 | 4.5 | 3.8 | ||||||||
| Alberta | 789.17 | 827.45 | 829.53 | 0.3 | 5.1 | 5.2 | ||||||||
| British Columbia | 735.61 | 752.65 | 750.41 | -0.3 | 2.0 | 2.2 | ||||||||
| Yukon | 848.16 | 856.85 | 862.48 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 1.2 | ||||||||
| Northwest Territories | 984.19 | 970.46 | 981.29 | 1.1 | -0.3 | 0.1 | ||||||||
| Nunavut | 877.55 | 924.92 | 937.97 | 1.4 | 6.9 | 5.3 | ||||||||
|
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Cool stuff eh?