Students go to university on a promise: get an education and the jobs will come. That worked for many students’ parents, but something shifted. The cost of university went up. Secure jobs are harder to find. The average student debt load is much higher than it was a generation ago. University should broaden students’ options, not limit them. Ontario is falling short on that promise.
Click on the image below to read our fact sheet on the burden of tuition:
Income inequality in Canada is on the rise—especially in the country's largest cities. CCPA analysis of new data finds the richest 1% of Canadians make almost $180,000 more today than they did in 1982 (adjusted for inflation), while the bottom 90% of Canadians saw income gains of only $1,700.
In Canada’s three largest cities—Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal—the bottom 90% make less today than they did in 1982. They’ve seen drops in income of $4,300, $1,900, and $224, respectively. The top 1% in those cities saw pay increases of $189,000, $297,000, and $162,000, respectively.
No province has managed to become more equal since 1980. Instead, all provinces have become more unequal, although to varying degrees.
Click here for more analysis, and check out our infographics below.
Pour une analyse québécoise (en français), visitez le blogue d'IRIS: Le 1% au Québec (1): plus de revenus, moins d’impôts.
(Click to enlarge)
For Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs, the rewards start clocking in very early into the New Year.
By 1:18pm on January 2, the first official working day of the year, Canada’s top 100 CEOs will have already pocketed $45,448. It takes the average Canadian an entire year of full-time work to earn that.
Our latest report, Overcompensating: Executive Pay in Canada, highlights some key numbers around executive pay in Canada and also includes a list of Canada's highest paid 100 CEOs.
You can also visit our pay clock, The Clash for the Cash: CEO vs. Average Joe, to find out just how much the average worker and top CEO have earned so far.
This week, The Huffington Post features an infographic breaking down the details on the growth of income inequality in Canada between 1980 and 2009. Created by Ryerson University journalism student Jeff Fraser, the infographic draws on data from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. See the infographic here.
Fraser also made a short video on the subject. You can view it below:
An examination of income inequality in North America reveals that Mexico is the only part of the continent where the middle class has been gaining from growth, according to a new study by internationally respected economist Lars Osberg, Dalhousie University professor and CCPA Research Associate.
Mexico’s middle class has benefited from urbanization, greater female employment, improved education and better social programs. Although similar trends in Canada and the U.S. maintained growth in middle class incomes until the 1970s, Osberg says, they have since run out of steam. Globalization, technological advances, a drop in unionized work, and a deregulated labour market have contributed to stagnant real incomes for most in Canada and the U.S. since the 1980s.
Meanwhile, income growth at the top has accelerated in both Canada and the U.S.
Read the full study, Instability Implications of Increasing Inequality, and share our infographic comparing the Three Amigos.
CCPA not only does first-rate research; it also connects with the real world by putting powerful information in the hands of advocacy groups and by presenting intelligent, progressive ideas in the media. It is a BC jewel and I urge everyone to support it.
— Kathleen Ruff, founder, RightOn Canada