NNSL (OCT 04/96) - Territorial workers maintained the highest average weekly earnings in the country at $727 in the first three months of the year. The national average weekly salary was $576 over the same period, the NWT Bureau of Statistics reports.
As always, however, those in the goods-producing sector in the NWT, such as mining, topped the list, averaged $966 a week. That compares to those in the service sector who average $687 a week.
And statistics from the first three months support the bureau's conclusion that 1996 will not be a sparkling year economically.
Despite the two-per-cent increase in average incomes, statistics show the number of available jobs dropped in the first three months of the year.
Housing investment dropped 70 per cent in the first quarter of 1996 from the same quarter in 1995. And the value of residential building permits in tax-based communities dropped 37 per cent over the same period.
There was some glimmer of good news, however.
Retail sales of $107 million in the first three months of 1996 were down 10 per cent from the last quarter of 1995, but eight per cent higher than the first quarter of 1995.