Growing Gap

An entire year of punching the clock: for the Average Joe, it’s a living. But 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 have already pocketed $45,448 — what it takes the Average Joe an entire year, working full-time, to earn.*

By the end of 2011, Canada’s top 100 CEOs had pocketed an average of $7.7 million.

At this rate, Canada’s 50 highest paid CEOs make 235 times more than Canadians earning the average wage. If you think that’s normal, it’s not. In 1995, Canada’s top 50 CEOs made 85 times more than the average wage.

These and other key facts are highlighted in our factsheet, Overcompensating: Executive Pay in Canada. It also includes a list of Canada's 100 highest paid CEOs.

*Based on 2011 CEO compensation data and the 2011 average Canadian wage. Amount displayed based on your current time zone.

A new OECD report on income inequality among 34 industrialized nations asserts what CCPA research has long revealed: Canada's income gap is at a record high. As the Globe and Mail reports in this story , "Two factors explain Canada’s growing gap: a widening disparity in labour earnings between high- and low-paid workers, and less redistribution. 'Taxes and benefits reduce inequality less in Canada than in most OECD countries,' the study said."

The full report is available for download from the OECD website here.

Meanwhile, Huffington Post Canada has unveiled a series on income inequality in Canada, including:

• a look at the pitfalls of economic growth in Calgary
• a slideshow looking at which Canadian cities are seeing the fastest ghettoization 
• a look at income inequality's effect on housing prices featuring the CCPA's own David Macdonald
• an extensive article on income inequality and tax policy

A new CCPA report finds household carbon footprints increase with income. In fact, the richest 20% of Canadian households are responsible for almost double the greenhouse gas emissions of those in the lowest-income group. The study, by Marc Lee and Amanda Card, concludes that GHG reduction policies must take inequality into consideration in order to be effective.

The full report, Who Occupies the Sky? The Distribution of GHGs in Canada, is available by clicking here.

Income inequality is the worst it’s been in 90 years, worse even than at its previous peak in the Roaring Twenties. As the gap widens between the rich and poor, economists predict growing unrest in Canada and the United States. Will tighter financial regulations lead us back toward equality? Alex Roslin investigates in Saturday’s Montreal Gazette. Read the full story here.

Macleans magazine has created a great simple online calculator to help Canadians see where they belong on the income inequality scale. Click here to plug in your annual income and find out where you belong among in the income spectrum. 

In a new blog post, the CCPA's Trish Hennessy looks at the evolution of framing income inequality and how the Occupy Wall Street movement has shifted the frame once more. Click here to read her blog.

CCPA senior economist Armine Yalnizyan, was presented with the Ontario Public Health Association’s Award of Excellence on October 5, 2011 at their annual meetings. She accepted this honour on behalf of all the contributors to the Growing Gap Project and all the people who contribute to the CCPA to make our work possible.

It was an unexpected award, but reflects the fact that the OPHA recognizes and celebrates CCPA’s work as supporting their own in the search for public policies and initiatives that can reduce health inequities.

There are few more noble goals  – and few people who work as hard as the folks at the OPHA in their efforts to make meaningful change in our daily lives, particularly among the most marginalized groups in our midst. The CCPA is lucky to be on a journey with such fellow travelers.