Provincial associate compensation

Introduction

One of the hottest management topics in veterinary medicine for 2023 was associate wages. Demand for veterinary services, fueled by the pandemic puppy/kitten boom, was at an all time high and practices across the country were looking to get some much-needed extra help by bringing on more veterinarians. As the demand for associate veterinarians heated up, salaries started to climb. Nationally, the average increase in associate earnings was 9% in 2023; almost 3 times the 3.1% rate of inflation posted by Statistics Canada.

Average compensation by province

Comparing associate compensation across the provinces looks like a suspension bridge, with the highest salaries in Newfoundland and Labrador, followed by British Columbia with Ontario closely behind for second and third place. After accounting for annual hours worked and the cost of living in each of the provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador move to an even higher first place position but the rest of the provinces settle into different places.

Hours worked and cost of living

The difference in average hours worked can vary by as much as 336 hours or 10 weeks, from one province to another. Associate veterinarians in Quebec work the least number of hours at 1504 in comparison to their counterparts in Alberta and Manitoba who work 1840 hours and associates in Prince Edward Island who work only 16 hours less at 1824. To accurately compare wages across the provinces, the hours worked must be considered, so the average in each province was converted to a 1750 full-time equivalent. That meant provinces that had average annual hours higher than 1750 saw their compensation figures lowered and provinces that had fewer average annual hours had their figures increased to reflect what could have been earned if the average associate worked 1750 hours. Converting to a full-time equivalent wage increased the national figure 6% since the average associate worked 1651 hours — 6% lower than the full-time equivalent figure.

In additional to different hours worked, the cost of living differed across the country as well. In New Brunswick, the average family spends 25% less than the average family in Alberta — $100 000 earned in New Brunswick would be equivalent to $75 000 in Alberta. By adjusting for the cost of living in each province, economic differences between the provinces are neutralized and makes for a more accurate comparison of associate earnings.

Associates in Atlantic Canada and Quebec worked fewer hours than the national average and reside in provinces with a relatively lower cost of living so their salary adjustment was significantly higher than other provinces. On the other side of the country, a higher cost of living and longer hours worked brought the comparative salaries down for British Columbia and Alberta. The middle of the country stayed much the same since the hours worked and cost of living were close to the national average or in the case of Manitoba, the lower cost of living cancelled out more annual hours, so the difference was only $207.

After accounting for the cost of living and annual hours worked, Eastern Canada had the highest earning associates in 2023. Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest adjusted salaries, but comparing Newfoundland and Labrador associate salaries to the rest of Canada is like playing fantasy hockey with Wayne Gretzky on your team. It’s so much higher than every other province, its not even a fair comparison. Outside of Newfoundland and Labrador, the greatest transformation was with New Brunswick and Quebec. In both provinces, fewer annual hours and a lower cost of living moved them from third and fourth from the bottom in annual associate earnings to second and third from the top.

Most competitive market to hire

To select the most competitive market for hiring associate veterinarians in the country, the change in salaries from year-to-year was used to measure competition between practices. This assumes the laws of supply and demand were at work in the market for associate veterinarians. In provinces where there were more jobs and less associates, the increase in salaries from one year to another would have been higher to attract and retain talent. Not surprising, the most competitive market in 2023 was also Newfoundland and Labrador with a 44% increase in salaries over the previous year. This was followed by Nova Scotia at 24% and Prince Edward Island at 16%. Quebec, Manitoba, and Alberta were least competitive provinces with growth in salaries less than 10%.

Hardest to pay

From an employer’s perspective, paying higher salaries is easier if revenues are higher. Looking at associate incomes as a percentage of gross revenues (associate full-time equivalent income to fulltime equivalent practice revenue) shows which provinces have it easier or harder than others. Nationally, associate wages equated to 16% of total revenue for the average practice. That meant that for every $100 of revenue, $16 was spent on associate salaries. Although one might expect Newfoundland and Labrador, with its extraordinarily high salaries to be the highest province in associate earnings to practice revenue, their higher-than-average revenue offset their higher associate salaries and brought them to last place in Eastern Canada and middle of the pack for the nation. The province with the highest associate salary to gross revenue was British Columbia where revenues did not keep up with associate wages and the average associate salary was 19% of total gross revenue. That suggests practices in British Columbia pay more in associate wages for every dollar of revenue than the rest of Canada. The province with the lowest associate wage to practice revenue ratio was Manitoba at 11%.

Thanks to all the associate veterinarians who completed the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) Annual Survey of Compensation and Benefits for Associate Veterinarians. Within each province, associate salaries are affected by type of practice, seniority, area of the province, method of compensation, and assisting in management. For more information on what drives associate salaries, consult your CVMA provincial report on Compensation and Benefits for Associate Veterinarians on the CVMA website (www.canadianveterinarians.net, click on ‘Veterinary Resources’ and then ‘Business Management’). Information on practice revenues comes from the CVMA Annual Practice Owners Economic Survey.

Table 1.

Associate Statistics.

	Canada	BC	AB	SK	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PEI	NL
Associate Compensation	119 530	130 000	115 000	110 000	106 000	127 000	104 000	110 000	115 000	95 000	180 000
Associate Hours	1651	1656	1840	1762	1840	1656	1504	1615	1610	1824	1564
Cost of Living Index (Statistics Canada)	100	108	112	98	95	105	87	83	89	85	87
COLFTE Associate Compensation	127 271	127 199	97 777	111 176	106 207	127 513	139 132	143 980	140 114	106 919	232 746
Associate Wage as percent of Gross	16%	19%	14%	14%	11%	16%	18%	18%	18%	18%	17%
Annual Increase 2022–2023	9%	12%	4%	13%	6%	10%	5%	10%	24%	16%	44%