Inflation was up but take-home pay was going the other way.
An examination of the income status of Canadians conducted by Statistics Canada shows in 2023, household take-home pay was down at a time when inflation was still alive and well.
In short, it says government is taking a larger share of the overall paycheck, leaving less for those who earned it.
And Saskatchewan did not fare well in this report.
We, along with Quebec, saw the biggest decline among the provinces – down 1.2-percent because the one-time Saskatchewan Affordability Index credit was eliminated. The average after-tax income in the province was more than $81,000, Number 4 in Canada.
Regina was also singled out in the national report’s look at municipalities with the dubious honor of seeing after-tax incomes fall by 2.4-percent, the largest retraction of any major city in the country. Regina ended the year with an average after-tax income of almost $85,000, a little behind Saskatoon at roughly $86,000.
