Since the early 1980s, middle class incomes in Canada and the United States have stagnated while the incomes of the top 1% have, with occasional short interruptions, grown dramatically. As a result, the top 1% income share in the U.S. increased from 10.8% of total income in 1982 to 22.5% in 2012. Tax data in Canada show a smaller increase, but it is hard to be completely sure since the top 1% in Canada have been able to shelter some of their income increase from view (in Canadian Controlled Private Corporations). 

Last month, Statistics Canada released the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) data on Education and Labour, the most recent dataset of its kind since the 2006 Census. The data illustrate that, following the Great Recession of 2008-09, recent university graduates aged 25 to 34 had a more difficult time finding employment than was the case in 2006. Nevertheless, a university degree appears to have provided a cushion for young people during a time of rising unemployment. While the unemployment rate for recent university grads increased between 2006 (pre-Recession) and 2011 (a year of partial recovery from the Recession), it did so at a lower rate than did the unemployment rate for 25-34 year-olds without a university degree, the youth unemployment rate (15-24 year-olds), and the overall national unemployment rate.

Some 500,000 students have just graduated from Canada’s postsecondary education system, and the great majority will be hoping to find a decent job and to embark upon a meaningful career.

Unfortunately, the employment prospects for many graduates are pretty dismal, for reasons that deserve serious reflection.