TORONTO - More Canadians are taking higher paying full-time jobs, in mining, technology and agriculture sectors, despite a sharp drop in overall new positions, says a report released Wednesday.

The report from CIBC World Markets (TSX:CM) on employment quality says job growth surged by six per cent since last year in areas like farming, Internet services and the beverage, tobacco, and electronics manufacturing.

The heftier paycheques associated with those jobs helped boost the average weekly wage by 4.3 per cent year-over-year, almost double the inflation rate, said the bank's senior economist Benjamin Tal.

The report comes as concern grows over the slowing Canadian economy, mainly from the impact of a worsening United States economy and troubles in the auto, forestry and manufacturing sectors.

As well, high oil prices and fears of rising inflation have battered the Canadian stock market, further darkening the prospects for the economy.

But Tal's report suggests losses in the blue-collar economy are being cushioned by gains in other high-paying sectors.

Tal's report said lower paying jobs like repair and maintenance and garment manufacturing didn't see growth in the same six-month period, and were up only one per cent over the past year.

"It seems that in Canada the loss of manufacturing jobs is being offset by job gains in sectors with equivalent or higher employment quality," said Tal in the report.

"Note that the experience in Canada is very different than the situation in the U.S. where the quality of employment fell by 2.8 per cent over the past year and by 1.7 cent over the past six months."

Tal said the quality of jobs is greater even while the number of part-time employment positions is rising faster than the number of full-time jobs - up 4.7 per cent over the past year compared to 1.1 per cent for full-time.

He also noted that Saskatchewan has surpassed Alberta as leader in the level of employment quality among Canadian provinces.

"This improvement was fuelled by strong job gains in agriculture, energy extraction and mining exploration and developments, where earnings run anywhere from 50 per cent to 125 per cent above the industrial average," he said.

In Ontario, employment quality was 4.7 per cent higher than the start of the year, which Tal said was an inconsistency considering the eroding manufacturing industry.

"A closer look suggests that many of the jobs lost in the sector over the past year were in low-paying industries such as wood, clothing and textile," he said.

On average, the Canadian economy is generating just 7,500 new jobs a month compared to about 40,000 a year ago, he wrote.

But the index is also at its highest level in a year and a half, and Tal expects the quality of employment to remain elevated.

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