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Canada's Income Gap Rising Faster Than Many Of Its Peers, Including U.S.: Study

Income Inequality Canada

First Posted: 09/13/11 12:12 PM ET Updated: 11/13/11 05:12 AM ET

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OTTAWA - A new study says Canada is rapidly catching up to the United States as a country divided between haves and have-nots.

The Conference Board says income inequality has been rising more in Canada than in the United States since the mid-1990s, and faster than in many peer countries.

In fact, the think-tank says Canada had the fourth-largest increase in income disparity among a sample group of 17 advanced economies during the period.

Overall, income inequality rose in 10 of the countries sampled, rising fastest in Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

Canada was next. It's Gini index, a complicated formula which measures income deviations away from a perfectly equal distribution, rose 9.2 per cent to 0.320.

By contrast, the U.S. had the highest income inequality of the group with a Gini reading of 0.378.

The Conference Board notes that Canada's index number put it in group of countries considered to have a medium range of income inequality.

A reading above 0.4 would designate high levels of income inequality.

Overall, the Conference Board says income inequality has increased for 71 per cent of the world's population.

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OTTAWA - A new study says Canada is rapidly catching up to the United States as a country divided between haves and have-nots. The Conference Board says income inequality has been rising more in Ca...
OTTAWA - A new study says Canada is rapidly catching up to the United States as a country divided between haves and have-nots. The Conference Board says income inequality has been rising more in Ca...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Glass Cannon
Let every eye negotiate for itself.
83 Fans
 
01:41 PM on 09/14/2011
Don't worry, the Harper Government will save us.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Steve Lives
The Venus Project ... look it up
301 Fans
12:49 PM on 09/14/2011
Investigate the Venus Project. This is the direction we should be going.
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Jack Canuckski
Canadian Observer of the passing scene
250 Fans
12:38 PM on 09/14/2011
This news, together with the news that the number of people living below the poverty line in the US has reached its highest level since 1959, when the US began collecting such statistics, tell us that something is very very wrong with our economic models.

Looked at objectively, in a world where technology and automation has increased productivity to levels undreamed of at any earlier stage in human history, we should at this point be better off than at any time before. The fact that we are moving in the opposite direction is a clear indication that our economic model is extremely flawed.
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LittleSanityLeft
103 Fans
07:07 PM on 09/14/2011
Taking money out of politics would go a long way to solving many of our economic issues as well as a vast number of other issues.
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revelationman
4 Fans
08:38 AM on 09/14/2011
I am starting to think now what the late Jack Layton was trying to convey in his messages, if this gap gets bigger and bigger, their will be more anarchy in the streets.
What can we do that is the problem, how do we bridge that gap well looking at the job ads here in Toronto there is companies that continue to pay low wages, and people are loosing their jobs easier today that before. What we have to do is cut the programs we do not need and place our money on job creation, with tax credits for hiring new workers not just one segment of society but all.
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Overt Enigma
YOUR micro bio is empty
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10:52 AM on 09/14/2011
Respectfully, that's not the solution. The only way to shrink the gap is start taxing the rich at a higher rate and increase programs for the low and middle class. Only by evening the field will the gap disparity shrink, but the leaders we have create policies that punish the poor and middle class, while rewarding the rich.

And if the gap becomes too large, well - heard of the French Revolution? It's going to happen on a global scale at this rate.
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revelationman
4 Fans
02:04 PM on 09/14/2011
The problem is if you continue to tax the rich they will go somewhere else with their investment dollars, there has to be a balance between taxation and programs,
What we have to do is encourage and develop small business, this is were the future of new jobs will be coming from. Increasing the corporate tax levels is a good idea- corporate tax levels could be based on the amount of jobs created.
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piceaglauca
The picture says it all....
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01:43 PM on 09/13/2011
Is Jim Flaherty able to understand this?
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neuphoria
121 Fans
12:57 PM on 09/13/2011
see this:
"The 'Jobless and Wageless Recovery' From the Great Recession of 2007-2009,"-- it describes what has been the most corporate-friendly recovery in more than a generation. Worker's wages and salaries have only accounted for slightly more than one percent of all income growth, while corporations got 88 percent of the national income growth.
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hg wells
670 Fans
08:40 AM on 09/14/2011
The average Canadian has not recovered their standard of living since the great recession of 1991. Salaries have not increased, yet the gov'ts both federal and provinicial have piled on tax after tax. In addition, insurance costs are totally out of control. Studies are now showing the average Canadian carries debt even on monthly expenses such as hydro and telephone.
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NorthernRambler
22 Fans
11:32 AM on 09/13/2011
No where does the article state what is causing this. I'm curious to know of at least some speculations.
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MJinCanada
Safe from zombies until my 2nd cup of coffee
1801 Fans
12:06 PM on 09/13/2011
After the Wall Street FAFU in 2008, several people I know had hours or wages cut back. A long-distance trucker told me that they had a choice of firing a quarter of the drivers or everybody taking a pay and hours cut. They chose the cut to ride out the tough times, rather than throw a buddy out of work.

Literally thousands of Canadians also lost significant amounts of their pension savings in that debacle.

A longer term cause would be the insidious practice of companies hiring largely part-time casual staff. One can get by on a little more than minimum wage -- but not if you work 35 hours one week and 27 the next, then 30, then 22 and so on as shifts change too much to even let you get another part-time casual job.

Furthermore, these part-time casual jobs have a high turnover rate, because as soon as someone has worked there long enough to qualify for higher wages, their hours may be cut again and again till they quit, allowing the company to hire a new part-time casual serf at starting wage. (Losing experienced staff can be detrimental to the bottom line, but the head office managers are so removed from the actual work that they can't see it.)
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NorthernRambler
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12:48 PM on 09/13/2011
Thanks for you comments, but I am not sure how accurate they are. The article does mention that this has been happening since the mid-90s, and not simplay after the market crash.
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piceaglauca
The picture says it all....
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01:48 PM on 09/13/2011
The 40 hour work week and benefits is over. The car industry saw this. The next step is to move those activities to off shore countries. . The Walmarts and Targets are the new boys on the block. They don't pay and they don't give hours. Unions aren't going to get their way by striking. That's sure fuel for a company to close. Governemts will cut back and public and civil workers will shrink. Only the politicians can get a pension after 4 yers. You really got to ask yourself.
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bohemiangrooves
32 Fans
01:09 PM on 09/13/2011
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative has a pretty robust project regarding this

http://www.policyalternatives.ca/projects/growing-gap
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