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Seems Like Everyone is Good At Something-Website 1

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Seems Like Everyone is Good At Something-Website 1

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This is a website outlining every countries greatest export.  As you can see Canada(and the U.S) both have petroleum(oil) as their greatest exports.  Each continents/ countries greatest productions are shown with food, Oil and industrial manufacturing being the typical export of countries with high GDP's , influence and economic power.    Other such exports include copper from Armenia, Cars from Mexico and even grapes from Afghanistan.  Other such exports as food, lumber, electronics and even blood make the list!

The exports of every country are related to the many characteristics of each.  Canada has large degree of natural resources, so petroleum is our greatest export, while for a country like Brundi natural metals such as gold find their place at the top of the lists.  I feel this list is important as it is filled with many expected results(such as the Americas mass export of oil) , as well as many unexpected results such as Ireland greatest export being linked to the pharmaceutical industry with blood fractions.  Each export seems to woven into both the physicality of the country(Cruise ships from the bahamas) as well as cultural focus(technologies from south Korea).

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What is the top export in every country? This series of maps explores some of the most influential goods in global trade.

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We Have a lot of Trees, We make a lot of lumber....Video 1

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We Have a lot of Trees, We make a lot of lumber....Video 1

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This video is short but very much outlines one of Canadas largest economic industries, our manufacturing/production of wood/lumber.  It gives brief history of how companies originally joined the lumber industry by making woof for aircrafts in WWII.   It then goes on to give brief explanation of the high quality and standards of lumber coming from Atlantic Canada.

I chose this video because it the perfect and simple answer to the question of "what is to be produced?". Canada is a massive country, it has one of the highest percentages of "certified forests in the world" , the video outlines how other countries will even pay premium prices for Canadas top quality wood. This industry is massive in Canada, and for good reason, it brings i billions of dollars, creates thousands of jobs and is the prime example of a Country using what it has in abundance to create an economic impact world wide.

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The Forestry Industry in Atlantic Canada

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Our Natural resources are a huge part of what keeps Canada as an economic powerhouse.  The Government of Canada website keeps Canadians informed on how much of these resources we distribute, purchase and make available to our population.  Canada has 10.3% of the worlds proven oil reserves, the Canadian government puts of 200M into research/Innovation of the oil industrywith 243 billion capital expenditures spent to this date.  That's not to see that renewable resources are not in influx, as a country we also pump billions into Solar thermal, Marine ,  Wind and Biomass.

This website was selected because it acts as hub for information about our many resources that Canadians can have access to. One such resource that was unknown to me before visiting this website is whats known as solar Photovoltaic energy. Similar to solar energy it uses energy from the sun, but rather than converting to heat , it converts it directly into electricity. This is the perfect example of a country using its need to produce renewable energy combined with Canadas constantly increasing greener initiatives to produce new forms of energy and profitable resources.

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Canada has the third-largest proven oil reserve in the world, most of which is in the oil sands

Proven oil reserves are reserves that are known to exist and that are recoverable under current technological and economic conditions.

Total Canadian proven oil reserves are estimated at 171.0 billion barrels, of which 166.3 billion barrels are found in Alberta's oil sands and an additional 4.7 billion barrels in conventional, offshore, and tight oil formations. Canada accounts for 10% of the world's proven oil reserves.

Learn more about offshore oil and gas resources and shale and tight resources in Canada.

Source: Oil and Gas Journal; *Alberta Energy Regulator and Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (2015)

Canada's proven reserves could increase considerably, should technology improve

As technology evolves, Canada's proven oil reserves could grow even larger. In the oil sands, ultimate potential reserves, or the oil estimated to be recoverable as technology improves, are estimated at more than 300 billion barrels. Learn more about the oil sands.

Canada also has significant potential tight oil resources. Find out more about tight and shale resources across Canada.

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Proven oil reserves are reserves that are known to exist and that are recoverable under current technological and economic conditions. Total Canadian proven oil reserves are estimated at 171.0 billion barrels, of which 166.3 billion barrels are found in Alberta's oil sands and an additional 4.7 billion barrels in conventional, offshore, and tight oil formations.

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Innovation in Auto Manufacturing Video #2 

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Innovation in Auto Manufacturing Video #2 

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This video goes over a very interesting topic , the movement of the automotive sector into electric vehicles.  It is a long video but one point i found that outlines this new movement is from the Vic president of corporate and environmental affairs at GM.  He speaks on the new Electric pallet trucks(bright-drop) that were being used at the beginning of 2021, as well as the ever increasing automotive/engineering industries moving  into the new era of electric vehicles.

This video was selected as it show some of the ways new products/markets are working their way into Canadas economies/industries. While many automotive suppliers are based over-seas, we as a Country are coming up with our own technological innovations. One such innovation outlined in this video was electronic E-pallet distribution system designed for companies such as FedEx that is shown to increase parcel delivery speeds by 20%. While Canada is yet to be the epicenter of technological advancement in the world, it shows how the we as a country are making steps towards new innovative technologies in major technology centers in our major cities like Toronto.

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Driving into the Future: Auto Manufacturing in Canada | Driving.ca

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The website for The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) is useful in showing labour trends and statistics in Canada.  To focus one such aspect is how plain and simply jobs are requiring more education/skills.  Decades a go physical labour jobs would have been very much the status que , but as world wide technologies advance and industries transform, jobs are changing.  The OECD states 29% of jobs are likely to see changes with the new spread of technological advancements.

This website hits on one topic I think is very important in particular . It speaks on the decrease of employment for "middle skill" jobs. These are jobs that require technical training beyond high-school but not something like a four year degree. Interestingly this drop in employment is greater than that of the low skilled workers. These trends suggest that the need for Canadians at the higher educational thresholds are becoming more and more sought after and will shape our manufacturing and production of goods in the future years.

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This chapter provides an overview of the labour market context in Canada, and discusses challenges related to changing demand for skills as a result of globalisation, technological change and population ageing. It provides an overview of Canada's system of adult learning.

Introduction

Canada's economy has seen robust employment growth in recent years. Linked to this growth, the job vacancy rate has hit record highs and the unemployment rate has hit record lows. Furthermore, the demand for skills is changing as a result of technological progress and globalisation. Population ageing is also putting significant pressure on the labour supply and several groups are under-represented in the labour market.

While Canada's adult population is highly educated, skills requirements are changing as the nature of work evolves. Adult learning can help adults to adapt to the changing demand for skills so that they continue to remain employable over their working lives. Investing in employees' skills is smart business for firms, as it helps to address growing skills shortages and reduce employee turnover.

This chapter describes the labour market context in Canada and the key challenges the country faces in responding to changing demand for skills. It provides an overview of the current skills of the adult population in Canada, and how the adult learning system performs in comparison to other OECD countries.

Labour market context

Tight labour market conditions in Canada

Canada's economic growth has supported strong employment growth in recent years, with the employment rate well above the OECD average and just below the level in the United States ( Figure 1.1, Panel A). Fuelled by growth, the unemployment rate reached a near-record low of 5.7% in 2019 ( Figure 1.1, Panel B).

Several additional indicators suggest tightening labour market conditions in Canada in recent years. There were 3.6 unemployed persons per vacant position (the unemployment-to-vacancy ratio) in 2016, while that ratio was down to 2.2 in 2018. Strong demand for workers is also evident from the share of firms who report labour shortages that restrict their ability to meet demand. At 31%, this share is above the historical average ( Figure 1.2). The Manpower Talent Shortage Survey also tracks a rise in the share of Canadian employers reporting hiring difficulties, from 31% of employers to 41% between 2008 and 2018 (Manpower, 2018[1]), though this remains below the global average (45%). Employers in the Manpower Talent Survey cited three top reasons for their hiring difficulties: not enough applicants (26%), applicants lack experience (19%), and applicants lack required hard skills (17%). In a more general survey conducted by the Labour Market Information Council asking employers about their top HR challenges, the most common response was difficulty retaining employees (39% of employers reported this challenge). Finding qualified or skilled workers came in second (35%), followed by offering competitive wages (32%).

Some segments of the labour force are under-represented in the labour market, particularly those with a low level of education (high school or less) and persons with disabilities ( Figure 1.3). Immigrants and Indigenous persons also have below-average participation rates and high unemployment rates. Removing barriers to labour force participation for under-represented groups is not only important from a well-being perspective, but also to ensure that employers have a sufficient pool of candidates to hire from in the current context of tight labour market conditions.

There is also significant variation in unemployment rates across regional labour markets ( Figure 1.4): Newfoundland and Labrador (11.9%), Prince Edward Island (8.8%), and New Brunswick (8.0%) had the highest unemployment rates in 2019, while British Columbia (4.7%), Quebec (5.1%) and Manitoba (5.3%) had the lowest. In Canada's energy-intensive provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan) unemployment rates have not yet recovered fully from the fall in oil prices in 2014.

Skills needs are changing

On top of tight labour market conditions due to economic growth, global trends such as globalisation, technological progress and population ageing are changing the types of skills that are in demand. These trends may lead to changes in the task content or even the destruction of some jobs, but also to the creation of new jobs that require different skills. Recent OECD research suggests that 29% of jobs in Canada are likely to see significant change in task content if current cutting-edge technology becomes widespread, and an additional 14% could be completely automated in the next 15-20 years (OECD, 2019[3]). Many Canadians could see their employability threatened unless they acquire new skills.

In terms of skill level, the new jobs are very different from those that are disappearing. Over the last two decades, OECD countries on average have seen a decline in the share of employment in middle-skilled jobs, while the share of employment in low-skilled and high-skilled jobs has risen ( Figure 1.5) 1. The phenomenon of polarisation is often explained by skill-biased technological change and a rise in demand for services. Looking at the period 1995-2015, Canada experienced a similar degree of polarisation as the United States. However, the decline in oil prices in 2014 resulted in lower demand for low-skilled workers related to the resource sector. Over 1998-2018, Canada actually saw a slight decline in the share of employment in low-skilled jobs ( Figure 1.5). The decline in the share of employment in middle-skilled jobs over this period (4.1%) was entirely offset by a rise in the share of employment in high-skilled jobs (4.4%).

Population ageing is having an impact on both the supply of and demand for labour in Canada. Statistics Canada projects that the ratio of working-age Canadians (aged 15 to 64) to every senior (aged 65 and over) will fall from 3.9 in 2018 to 2.4 by 2055 (Department of Finance, 2018[5]). While this ratio is currently on par with the OECD average, the projected decrease over the next 20 years is one of the largest among OECD countries. An ageing population is expected to lead to a reduction in the overall labour force participation rate. This is due both to a decline in the number of working-age Canadians, and to lower labour market participation rates among older workers relative to younger workers. On the demand side, population ageing is likely to reallocate labour and other resources across sectors and occupations as demand shifts away from durable goods and towards services (such as health care).

These trends have contributed to demand for high educational qualifications. Eight of the top ten occupations in shortage in 2018, according to the OECD Skills for Jobs database, either require a post-secondary education or are management occupations ( Table 1.1) 2. According to projections carried out by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) for the 2019-2028 period (Canadian Occupational Projection System), 36 out of 293 occupations analysed are expected to face labour shortage conditions and nearly all of them required a post-secondary education, apprenticeship training or were management occupations. Some 36% of occupations projected to be in shortage required a college education, compared to 53% a university degree. Only 8 of 293 occupations showed signs of surplus. Most occupations in surplus, according to both ESDC's projections and the OECD Skills for Jobs, had low qualification requirements (i.e. required no more than a secondary education or on-the-job training).

Global trends also have an impact on the types of skills in demand. The OECD Skills for Jobs database provides an international comparison of skills shortages and surpluses ( Figure 1.6). In Canada, shortages are currently observed in cognitive skills including verbal, quantitative and reasoning abilities, but also in certain manual skills, such as fine manipulative abilities, endurance, and physical strength. By contrast, manual skills like these are in surplus across most OECD countries. Shortages for these manual skills in Canada are linked to relatively high shortage pressure in health care and certain technical occupations in natural resources, agriculture and related production which use these skills intensively. Canada's natural resource sector continues to be large despite the fall in oil prices, and represented 11.3% of total GDP in the first quarter of 2019.

To integrate with global markets and to thrive in the digital workplace, workers need not only strong digital and cognitive skills, but also social and emotional skills, such as management, communication, and self-organisation skills (OECD, 2017[6]; OECD, 2019[7]). Social skills - including coordination, instructing, negotiating, persuasion, service orientation and social perceptiveness - are found to be in shortage in Canada according to the Skills for Jobs database. This is consistent with a domestic analysis of online job postings. It found that employers looking for digital skills are generally also looking for a candidate with strong "soft" skills, including communications and organisational skills, interpersonal skills, and writing skills (Vu, Lamb and Willoughby, 2019[8]). Similarly, the top three skill groups employers were looking for in a separate study of online job vacancies were business management, leadership and oral communication - all social and emotional skills (LMIC, 2019[9]).

Skills of the adult population

Most adults have a tertiary education, but many have low literacy or numeracy skills

Canada has the highest share of tertiary-educated workers across the OECD: 58% of Canadian adults aged 25-64 had a tertiary education in 2018, compared with the United States at 47%, and the OECD average at 37%. These figures result from the large number of students graduating from college programmes in Canada (26% of adults in 2018, compared with 11% in the United States and 7% across the OECD) 3. Canada performs closer to the OECD average in university-level educational attainment (a bachelor's degree or higher) ( Figure 1.7).

Canada is above average, but below top performers, in the skills assessed by the OECD Survey of Adult Skills: literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments. A sizeable share of Canada's adults - 27% - have low performance in either literacy or numeracy, scoring at Level 0 or 1 ( Figure 1.8). Canada's large foreign-born population (22% of the population were not born in Canada) may help to explain why this share is so high. While foreign-born adults in Canada are highly educated, quite often their first language is neither English nor French. They tend to have lower proficiency in the language of survey assessment (English or French) relative to Canadian-born adults. Indeed, 39% of foreign-born Canadians score at Level 0 or 1 in literacy or numeracy compared to only 21% for the native-born population. This disadvantage also makes it harder for foreign-born adults to integrate into the Canadian labour market.

Mismatch by qualifications, field of study, and skills

While most university graduates work in jobs that require a university education, a portion do not. One measure of over-qualification is the share of graduates who are not working in occupations usually requiring their highest level of educational attainment. In Canada, 16% of individuals (15-64) were over-qualified for their job in 2016, on par with the OECD average (OECD Skills for Jobs database). A similar share of adult workers (18%) self-reported being over-qualified in the 2016 General Social Survey. Immigration plays a role in explaining over-qualification in Canada. University-educated immigrants - especially those who did not graduate in Canada or the United States - are significantly more likely than Canadian-born graduates to report being over-qualified (Uppal and Larochelle-Côté, 2014[11]). Lower English and French language skills, difficulties assessing foreign credentials and lack of Canadian work experience are part of the explanation, but discrimination may also be a factor. A Statistics Canada study (Larochelle-Côté and Hango, 2016[12]) shows that over-qualified university graduates tend to employ their literacy, numeracy and digital problem-solving skills less in the workplace than their well-matched counterparts.

Field of study mismatch occurs when workers who were educated in a particular field work in a different one. According to the 2016 General Social Survey, about 36% percent of Canadian adults are working in a field different from the one in which they studied (very close to the 37% reported by adults in the 2012 Survey of Adult Skills). Field of study mismatch is the result of both labour supply and demand factors. These include the degree of saturation of a particular field in the labour market and the level of transferable skills offered by a particular field of study. While field of study mismatch is lower in Canada relative to the average (39%) (Montt, 2015[13]), it may be costlier: 42% of adults who are mismatched by field of study are also overqualified for their jobs (above the average of 33%) (Montt, 2015[13]). Field of study mismatch generally only leads to costs for economies when combined with over qualification.

Some 43% of Canadian adults report a poor match between their job and skills. A large share (35.5%) of Canadian adults report that they have the skills to cope with more demanding duties in their job, i.e. they are over-skilled ( Figure 1.9). Only 7.5% report that they are under-skilled and require training to cope with their current duties. The incidence of over-skilling is higher among certain groups: men, younger adults aged 25-34, and casual or on-call employees. As adults age and become better matched to their roles, the rate of over-skilling declines. Being self-employed is also associated with lower rates of over-skilling. The rate of over-skilling does not vary significantly by education, union status or immigration status. The highest rates of over-skilling are in natural resources, agriculture and other production occupations, as well as sales and service occupations. Individuals working in health occupations display the lowest rate of over-skilling.

Adult learning policy context and performance

How well individuals, firms and economies adapt to the changing world of work described above critically depends on the readiness of a country's adult learning system to help people develop and maintain relevant skills over their working careers. This section provides an overview of Canada's adult learning system.

Box 1.1. Defining adult learning

This report focuses on the population of potential adult learners aged 25-64. Adults in this age group have generally completed initial education and have begun their working lives. Adult learning can be classified as formal education, non-formal education or informal learning.

Formal education: institutionalised learning activities (e.g. seminars, courses, on-the-job training, open and distance education) which are a minimum of one semester and which are recognised as programmes by the relevant education or equivalent authorities.

Non-formal education: institutionalised learning activities which are either of short duration (less than one semester of full-time equivalent) or are not recognised by the relevant education or equivalent authorities.

Informal learning: non-institutionalised learning activities that are unstructured (e.g. no student/teacher interaction) and can take place anywhere, e.g. learning while doing.

Source: Eurostat (2016[14]), Classification of Learning Activities Manual, https://dx.doi.org/10.2785/874604.

Overview of Canada's adult learning system

Education in Canada is primarily a provincial and territorial responsibility, and there is no single pan-Canadian approach to adult learning. Provincial and territorial ministries responsible for education plan and implement policies for adult learning and skills development with financial support from the federal government, and often in consultation with other government sectors, non-governmental organisations, or the private sector. The federal government also plays a strong role in skills development to support Canada's labour market competitiveness

While provision of adult learning varies by jurisdiction, Table 1.2 provides an overview of the general types of programmes available in Canada and the institutions that offer them. Programmes include literacy and essential skills programmes for adults, English or French as a second or additional language, vocational education and training, apprenticeships, higher education, adult liberal education (i.e. hobby courses) and workplace training. Programmes are delivered by a wide range of agencies, organisations and institutions including school boards, colleges, cégeps 4, vocational centres, universities, adult learning centres, Indigenous owned-and-operated post-secondary institutions, community groups, non-profit and volunteer groups, employers, unions, associations, private companies, and special groups serving specific types of learners (e.g. Indigenous learners, immigrants, women, prisoners, low-income and unemployed individuals).

Many universities and colleges have special admission processes for mature students (adults who have been out of school for at least one year). Universities and colleges often make allowances for mature students to carry out part or all of their degree or diploma requirements on a part-time or evening basis, by distance or online. In 2017/18, there were 691 000 adults (age 25+) enrolled in post-secondary programmes. The most common post-secondary programmes that adults enrolled in were degrees (45% of adult post-secondary learners), followed by diplomas (17%), followed by certificates (13%) 5.

Unemployed individuals access employment and training services by registering with the provincial public employment service. One of the programmes available to registered jobseekers is skill development. The objective of the skill development programme is to assist active and former Employment Insurance claimants in obtaining the skills they need for employment (ESDC, 2017[16]). Funded programmes include essential skills training, adult basic education, English or French as a second language, and occupational skills training. New federal legislation enables unemployed adults to continue receiving employment insurance benefits while pursuing full-time training.

There are no pan-Canadian budget indicators of overall spending on adult learning. But the federal government invests close to CAD 7.5 billion annually in skills development for Canadians, and CAD 3 billion of this is delivered in partnership with the provinces and territories (Department of Finance, 2019[17]). These transfers fall under two major bilateral agreements: the Workforce Development Agreements 6 (WDA) and the Labour Market Development Agreements (LMDA). WDAs support skills upgrading, work experience programmes, and assistance setting up a new business. LMDAs support programmes to help unemployed people find work and to ensure a skilled labour force that meets the needs of employers. The design and delivery of the programmes and services funded under these agreements are the responsibility of provinces and territories. They do not need to be approved by the federal government.

The federal government also invests in skills development for adults outside of its partnerships with the provinces and territories. This includes direct support to learners through targeted training programmes for Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and recent immigrants. It also includes student financial assistance. In the 2018/19 fiscal year, the federal government invested over CAD 3.5 billion in loans and CAD 1.6 billion in non-repayable grants. Student financial assistance is available to all students, regardless of age.

The 2019 budget report announced a new financial incentive to promote adult learning participation. The Canada Training Benefit fills a gap identified by the 2018 Horizontal Skills Review which found that unemployed Canadians receive a broad range of supports to acquire or develop new skills but that working adults in mid-career could benefit from more support (Department of Finance, 2019[17]). The Canada Training Benefit includes a refundable tax credit up to CAD 5 000 to offset tuition costs and related fees, as well as an Employment Insurance Training Support Benefit to compensate income lost while training. It also includes leave provisions for federally regulated workers to take time away from work for training while maintaining their job security.

Canada's performance on adult learning

The OECD Priorities for Adult Learning (PAL) dashboard facilitates cross-country comparisons on the future-readiness of adult learning systems ( Figure 1.10).

Canada performs above the OECD average in two areas: alignment of training with labour market needs and coverage. Aligning training with labour market needs depends on high quality labour market information. Canada invests in an array of initiatives to generate information about labour and skills needs. The Labour Market Information Council was established in 2017 to improve the timeliness, reliability and accessibility of labour market information. Canada also performs well on coverage, i.e. the share of Canadian adults and employers who participate in job-related training. Just over half (52%) of the working-age population participated in at least one job-related training activity within the previous 12 months, according to the 2012 OECD Survey of Adult Skills ( Figure 1.11). This compares with an OECD average of only 41% of adults. According to the 2016 General Social Survey, two-thirds (66%) of adult Canadians received some type of training (not limited to job-related training) in 2016.

Despite having high coverage in adult learning compared to other countries, Canada performs relatively poorly in inclusiveness. In particular, participation rates are low among low-skilled workers, low-waged workers, older workers, the unemployed, those working in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and those in temporary work 7.

Notably, Canada displays one of the largest gaps in participation rates between high/medium-skilled workers and low-skilled workers ( Figure 1.12). Across OECD countries, low-skilled workers participate much less than higher-skilled workers in training, but this gap is particularly large in Canada (28 percentage points relative to 23 percentage points). While changes in skills requirements due to technological change affect all workers, the growing demand for high-level cognitive skills and complex social interaction skills suggest that low-skilled workers in jobs that are intensive in repetitive or manual tasks are likely to bear the brunt of these changes (OECD, 2019[3]). Despite having a greater need for upskilling, low-skilled workers receive less training than high-skilled workers.

The participation gap between the prime-age population (25-54) and older adults (55+) is also larger in Canada relative to the average (23 percentage points vs. 21 percentage points). Unless older workers upgrade the skills they acquired in initial education, many are likely to experience skills obsolescence due to technological change. Given the shorter period of time that older workers have to recoup the investment in training before retirement, they tend to receive less training than younger workers. Workforce innovation programmes are testing ways to bridge these gaps and will be discussed in Chapter 2.

On other dimensions, including flexibility and guidance, Canada performs in the middle of the pack. Do adults have access to guidance about learning opportunities? Are learning opportunities available in flexible formats, including online, distance, modular, part-time or evenings? Flexible modes of training delivery can make training more accessible for adults who struggle to find time to train. Being too busy at work was the main barrier cited by Canadian adults who wanted to train more (30%) ( Figure 1.13). Another 17% reported that they did not have time due to childcare and family responsibilities. Some 12% said the course was not offered at a convenient time or place. There are signs that Canadians are making use of flexible modes of training delivery. Some 10% of the population aged 16-65 participated in open or distance education in 2012, on par with the OECD average. The Conference Board of Canada also tracked a shift away from formal classroom training towards informal learning, as an increasing number of employees initiate their own self-paced e-learning (The Conference Board of Canada, 2018[18]).

Another area where Canada performs close to average is in financing. In Canada, the personal financial cost of training represents the second most important barrier to participation ( Figure 1.13). Some 19% of adults in Canada who wanted to participate more in training did not do so because it was too expensive, which is above the OECD average (16%).

The third area where Canada's dashboard performance only ranks as average is on the impact of training. To assess whether training has a positive impact on labour market outcomes, the PAL dashboard considers various indicators: wage returns, self-reported usefulness of training, and whether adults have opportunities to use newly acquired skills in the workplace. Wage returns to training in Canada are higher than the OECD average (10% versus 8.5%), though adults in several countries enjoy greater returns to training (Chile, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Ireland, United Kingdom). Some 62% of adult learning participants report that at least one training activity was "very useful" for their job (PIAAC). On this measure, Canada outperforms the average (52%), and yet falls behind Denmark (82%) and New Zealand (66%). More recent data from the 2016 General Social Survey suggest stronger performance: 87% of Canadian adults who participated in training in the last 12 months reported that it helped improve job performance. However, a lower share reported that it helped to improve future job prospects (68%). An even lower share said that it improved job security (55%).

To translate newly acquired skills into higher productivity, job satisfaction and wages, adults need opportunities to deploy their skills in the workplace (OECD, 2016[19]). As noted above, the 2016 General Social Survey suggests that 35.5% of Canadian adults have the skills to cope with more demanding duties in their job. The OECD Survey of Adult Skills asks how often workers use reading, writing, numeracy, information and communication technology (ICT) and problem solving skills at work. Canada generally performs above the OECD average on the use of each type of skill ( Figure 1.14). However, both the United States and Australia surpass Canada, suggesting potential to improve. Having opportunities to deploy their skills at work has an impact on employee job satisfaction and as a result, employee engagement. According to Gallup's Employee Engagement survey with data collected from 2014 to 2016 8, only 20% of Canadian workers reported feeling engaged at work (Gallup, 2017[20]). This percentage is higher than the global average (15%) but much lower than the United States (33%).

Figure 1.14. Average use of information-processing skills at work, OECD countries

Source: OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC, 2012, 2015).

Prioritising better skills use benefits in several ways. It not only improves the impact of adult learning, but it also advances the national productivity and innovation agenda (Stone, 2011[21]). Labour productivity growth in Canada lags behind the United States and other G7 countries ( Figure 1.15). It has done so since the 1980s (Rao, Tang and Wang, 2008[22]). Analysts offer various explanations for Canada's puzzling lower productivity, including an insufficient innovation culture, low capital intensity growth, and poorer infrastructure. The United States' productivity advantage may also arise from the way that American workplaces provide employees with opportunities to use their skills. A skilled workforce does not guarantee actual skills usage. In fact, skills proficiency explains only a small fraction of the variation (OECD, 2019[23]). Dedicated efforts are needed to understand and improve skills use in the Canadian workplace. Policy responses to improve skills use in the workplace will be discussed in Chapter 3.

Summary

The skills and qualifications needed in the workplace have been changing considerably as a result of digitalisation, globalisation and population ageing. Middle-skilled jobs make up less of total employment than they once did, while the share of employment in high-skilled jobs has risen. Skills shortages have emerged, especially in jobs requiring a tertiary education, as well as those requiring a combination of digital, cognitive and social skills.

Canada needs to take a critical look at its current adult learning system. Is it well equipped to deal with the pressing challenges associated with changing demand for skills? Workers whose skills have become obsolete with technological change could benefit from retraining in higher-demand skill areas. In addition to supporting transitions from one occupation to another, Canada's adult learning system should equip adults with the foundational skills needed to weather evolving changes in skills demand, including social skills, verbal, reasoning and quantitative abilities. A sizeable share of the adult population has low English or French literacy skills, and the share is particularly high among the immigrant population. Upgrading these skills could improve the labour market integration of immigrants. In doing so it would address skills shortages by making better use of the skills of immigrants, who are highly educated.

Canada's adult learning system performs well in international comparison, particularly on coverage and alignment of training with labour market needs. A key challenge will be how to engage workers who typically enjoy lower access to adult learning opportunities, including older and low-skilled workers, . A sharper focus on flexibility, guidance, financing and the impact of training will support these goals.

There have been interesting recent developments in workforce innovation in Canada. The next chapter assesses their potential to improve the future-readiness of adult learning systems with reference to the dimensions above.

References

[2] Bank of Canada (2020), "Business Outlook Survey Winter 2019-20", Bank of Canada, https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2020/01/business-outlook-survey-winter-2019-20/.

[17] Department of Finance (2019), "Budget 2019: Investing in the Middle Class", Canadian Department of Finance, Ottawa, https://www.budget.gc.ca/2019/docs/plan/budget-2019-en.pdf.

[5] Department of Finance (2018), "Update of Long-Term Economic and Fiscal Projections", Department of Finance, Government of Canada, https://www.fin.gc.ca/pub/ltefp-peblt/2018/report-rapport-eng.asp.

[15] Desjardins, R. (2017), "Political economy of adult learning systems: Comparative study of strategies, policies and constraints", International Review of Education, Vol. 64/2, pp. 265-267, http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1007/s11159-017-9670-1.

[16] ESDC (2017), Evaluation of the Labour Market Development Agreements: Synthesis Report, Employment and Social Development Canada, Ottawa, https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/corporate/reports/evaluations/labour-market-development-agreements.html.

[14] Eurostat (2016), "Classification of learning activities (CLA) manual: 2016 edition", European Union, Luxembourg, http://dx.doi.org/ 10.2785/874604.

[20] Gallup (2017), "State of the Global Workplace", Gallup Press, http:// file:///C:/Users/Mullock_K/Downloads/State%20of%20the%20Global%20Workplace_Gallup%20Report%20(1).pdf.

[12] Larochelle-Côté, S. and D. Hango (2016), "Overqualification, skills and job satisfaction", in Insights on Canadian Society, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/75-006-x/2016001/article/14655-eng.pdf?st=sALLE4ge (accessed on 16 December 2019).

[9] LMIC (2019), Insights into skills and jobs advertised on LinkedIn in 2018, Labour Market Information Council, https://lmic-cimt.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LMIC_LinkedIn-LMI-Insights-No-10.pdf (accessed on 26 September 2019).

[1] Manpower (2018), Solving the Talent Shortage: Build, Buy, Borrow and Bridge, Manpower Talent Shortage Survey, https://manpowergroup.ca/campaigns/manpowergroup/talent-shortage/pdf/canada-english-talent-shortage-report.pdf (accessed on 16 December 2019).

[13] Montt, G. (2015), "The causes and consequences of field-of-study mismatch: An analysis using PIAAC", OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 167, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5jrxm4dhv9r2-en.

[10] OECD (2019), Education at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/f8d7880d-en.

[24] OECD (2019), OECD Compendium of Productivity Indicators 2019, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/b2774f97-en.

[3] OECD (2019), OECD Employment Outlook 2019: The Future of Work, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9ee00155-en.

[7] OECD (2019), OECD Skills Outlook 2019 : Thriving in a Digital World, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/df80bc12-en.

[23] OECD (2019), OECD Skills Strategy 2019: Skills to Shape a Better Future, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264313835-en.

[4] OECD (2017), OECD Employment Outlook 2017, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/empl_outlook-2017-en.

[6] OECD (2017), OECD Skills Outlook 2017: Skills and Global Value Chains, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264273351-en.

[19] OECD (2016), OECD Employment Outlook 2016, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/empl_outlook-2016-en.

[22] Rao, S., J. Tang and W. Wang (2008), "What Explains the Canada-US Labour Productivity Gap? on JSTOR", Canadian Public Policy, Vol. 34/2, pp. 163-192, https://www.jstor.org/stable/25463606.

[25] Skolnik, M. (2018), "Factors Contributing to Canada's Number One International Ranking in the Proportion of Adults Who Have Attained a Community College Credential", Centre for the Study of Canadian and International Higher Education, http:// www.oise.utoronto.ca/cihe (accessed on 27 January 2020).

[21] Stone, I. (2011), "International approaches to high performance working. Project Report.", UK Commission for Employment and Skills, London, http://www.ukces.org.uk/publications/er37-international-approaches.

[18] The Conference Board of Canada (2018), Canadian Employers' Investment in Employee Learning and Development Continues to Rise, https://www.conferenceboard.ca/press/newsrelease/2018/01/31/canadian-employers-investment-in-employee-learning-and-development-continues-to-rise?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1.

[11] Uppal, S. and S. Larochelle-Côté (2014), "Overqualification among recent university graduates in Canada", http:// www.statcan.gc.ca, (accessed on 25 November 2019).

[8] Vu, V., C. Lamb and R. Willoughby (2019), "I, Human: The digital and soft skills driving Canada's labour market", https://brookfieldinstitute.ca/report/i-human-the-digital-and-soft-skills-driving-canadas-labour-market/.

Notes

← 1. Estimates of labour market polarisation are sensitive to the methodology used to define low-, middle-, and high-skilled occupations. The skill level of occupations can be approximated in different ways, including by educational requirements, complexity of tasks, and wages. The OECD methodology divides occupations into skill categories based on their ISCO-88 major group. High-skill occupations include jobs classified under the ISCO-88 major groups 1, 2, and 3. That is, legislators, senior officials, and managers (group 1), professionals (group 2), and technicians and associate professionals (group 3). Middle-skill occupations include jobs classified under the ISCO-88 major groups 4, 7, and 8. That is, clerks (group 4), craft and related trades workers (group 7), and plant and machine operators and assemblers (group 8). Low-skill occupations include jobs classified under major groups 5 and 9. That is, service workers and shop and market sales workers (group 5), and elementary occupations (group 9). Skilled agricultural and fisheries workers were excluded from this analysis.

← 2. The remaining two occupations in shortage are sales-related occupations, which have low educational and skill requirements. These occupations are considered to be facing shortage pressure due to their above-average growth in wages and hours worked in recent years.

← 3. Skolnik (2018[25]) observes that Canada's high rate of attainment of short-cycle tertiary education is due to its emphasis on the role of non-university post-secondary institutions - colleges and institutes - in the provision of programmes of two or three years' duration.

← 4. A cégep (Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel) is a publicly-funded post-secondary education pre-university technical college exclusive to the province of Quebec.

← 5. Statistics Canada, Table: 37-10-0015-01, Postsecondary enrolments, by credential type, age group, registration status, programme type and gender.

← 6. The Workforce Development Agreements consolidate the former Canada Job Fund Agreements and the Labour Market Agreements for Persons with Disabilities.

← 7. Based on a derived variable of disability status in the 2016 General Social Survey, Canadian adults with a disability were equally likely to participate in learning opportunities as adults without a disability.

← 8. Gallup's overall engagement measure is based on survey responses to questions about overall satisfaction at work, clarity of expectations, adequate materials and equipment, opportunity to do what one does best, recognition of good work, having someone at work who cares, feeling that one's opinions count, clarity about organisational mission or purpose, and having opportunities to learn and grow.

Metadata, Legal and Rights

This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. Extracts from publications may be subject to additional disclaimers, which are set out in the complete version of the publication, available at the link provided.

https://doi.org/10.1787/a92cf94d-en

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This chapter provides an overview of the labour market context in Canada, and discusses challenges related to changing demand for skills as a result of globalisation, technological change and population ageing. It provides an overview of Canada's system of adult learning. Canada's economy has seen robust employment growth in recent years.

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This video takes a look at modern day grain farmers and interviews some of these people whose families have been in the Canadian grain farming industry for upwards of 100 years.
This video is important because it shows not only the modern way that farming is performed but also talks on how far we have come. One quote i found exemplifies this very well is...
"therefore year by year we get an increase due to technology. If we compared a car from 10 years ago to a car today they wouldn't be the same thing, that goes the same in terms of technologies for plants".

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Today's Modern Grain Farm: A Harvest Across Canada

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This particular site gives a quality outline of wealth distribution of Canadian incomes based on various statistics.  The overall trend being that the rich are in-fact greeting richer and we do see gaps in time where the gap between the poorest group and the wealthiest sees increase.  That should however be taken with a grain of salt as the "poor" of Canadas populace is in fact less poor than they were say 30 years ago.

Three topics on this site stuck out to me which is the way the cite decided to calculate poor income using two main determinants LIM and LICO as well as Market Basket Measure.   Households using low income measure(LIM): The LIM is defined as half the median family income , and low income cut off(LICO):the income level below which a family would devote at least 20 percentage points more of their income on food, clothing, and shelter than an average family would. The MBM is a measure of the disposable income a family would need to be able to purchase a basket of goods that includes food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and other basic needs. These three statistics are essentially measures of ways of determining who is poor in Canada by what they are able to buy, and what they have left over. It seems important to show that while we may produce many items in Canada, the entire population is not always able to purchase these goods, in market economies those who can afford the product, get the product.

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Focus area- Canadian Economics

Key Messages

Income inequality in Canada has increased over the past 20 years.

The richest group of Canadians increased its share of total national income between 1993 and 2008, while the poorest group lost share. Middle-income Canadians also lost share.

Although the gap between the rich and poor widened, Canadians in the poorest income group still saw their income levels rise, albeit minimally.

What is income inequality and why does it matter?

Income inequality is the extent to which income is distributed unevenly in a country. It's an important companion statistic to income per capita, which measures how much income a country has, but not how this income is distributed. Income inequality within a country is often masked by the national average.

High inequality raises two questions. First, what is the impact on the economic well-being of a country? The answer is that high inequality can diminish economic growth if it means that the country is not fully using the skills and capabilities of all its citizens or if it undermines social cohesion, leading to increased social tensions. Second, high inequality raises a moral question about fairness and social justice.

There is, however, no consensus on when income inequality reaches this tipping point.

Monthly Newsletter

Is Canada becoming more unequal?

Income inequality in Canada has increased over the past 20 years.

The most commonly used measure of income inequality is the Gini index, which is measured on a scale of 0 to 1. Named after the Italian statistician Corrado Gini, the Gini index calculates the extent to which the distribution of income among individuals within a country deviates from an exactly equal distribution:

a Gini index of 0 represents exact equality-that is, every person in the society has the same amount of income

a Gini index of 1 represents total inequality-that is, one person has all the income and the rest of the society has none

Canada reduced inequality in the 1980s, with the Gini index reaching a low of 0.281 in 1989.1 Income inequality rose in the 1990s, but has remained around 0.32 in the 2000s.

Canada is not alone in experiencing an increase in income inequality. Global inequality is rising and most of Canada's peer countries have also experienced rising inequality. But rising inequality among developed countries is not inevitable. Other countries with similar levels of income per capita have lower income inequality. For example, income per capita in Austria and Denmark is nearly equivalent to Canada's, yet these two countries have lower income inequality as measured by the Gini index-particularly Denmark.

But isn't the average Canadian better off today?

Yes, the average Canadian is better off than she or he was a generation ago. In 1976, average income was $51,100; by 2009, it was $59,700-an increase of 17 per cent over 33 years. These figures are in real dollars-which means converting the 1976 income figure into 2009 dollars by adjusting for inflation.

But average income is not necessarily a good measure of how the majority of people are doing. Some analysts suggest using median income instead. Median income is the amount that divides the income distribution into two equal groups-half having income above that amount, and half having income below that amount. The average income can be distorted by the highest and lowest values. The median-the middle value of the group-is not affected by the actual level of the highest or lowest values.

Median income increased from $45,800 in 1976 to $48,300 in 2009. This increase has been very modest-just 5.5 per cent over 33 years. Moreover, the gap between average and median income has been growing, which is not good news. The growing gap signals that income growth is distributed unequally.

Paul Krugman, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics, gives a simple but effective example of the difference between average and median income.2 Suppose there are 10 people in a bar and they each earn between $34,000 and $36,000. The average income in that room is around $35,000. The median income is in the $35,000 range as well.

Now let's assume that Bill Gates walks into the bar and that his annual income is $1 billion. All of a sudden, the average income of the people in the bar soars to $91 million, but the 10 people who were already there before Bill Gates walked in are no richer than they were before. The median income remains around $35,000. Only one person is better off, and so inequality rises.

While this example is admittedly simplistic, the Bill Gates example has relevance to income patterns in Canada-average income has risen, but that's due mostly to the top earners increasing their share of the economic pie at the expense of the rest.

We can see this by dividing the population into five groups (quintiles) from poorest (first quintile) to richest (fifth quintile) and calculating the share of income that accrues to each group. If each of the five income groups had the same share of total national income-that is, 20 per cent-the distribution could be described as equal.

In Canada, only the fifth quintile-the group of richest Canadians-has increased its share of national income. All other quintile groups have lost share. This was particularly evident in the 1990s, when the income share for this top group jumped from 36.5 per cent in 1990 to 39.1 per cent in 2000.

The pie chart shows that the richest income group (fifth quintile) has by far the largest share of Canada's economic pie-with 39.2 per cent of total national income.

Why are the rich getting richer?

Most gains have gone to a very small group of "super-rich." To understand this, we have to look in more detail at the top quintile group-the top 20 per cent of Canadians. For this we need a different data set, one that provides more information on this group of super-rich. In a study for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, researcher Armine Yalnizyan uses tax file data to track the richest 1 per cent of Canadians; that is, those whose income was higher than 99 per cent of Canadian tax filers.3 She found that this group-the 246,000 people whose average income was $405,000-took home almost a third of all growth in incomes from 1998 to 2007, a decade that saw the fastest economic growth in this generation. She notes that: "The last time the economy grew so fast was in the 1950 and '60s, when the richest 1 per cent of Canadian took only 8 per cent of all income growth."4

The phenomenal growth in incomes of the super-rich is not due to the assets they own. Yalnizyan points out that, while it is true that historically the super-rich relied mostly on unearned income from assets, "the income of the richest 1 per cent is due mostly to the lavish sums they are paid for the work they do."5

This is consistent with findings in the United States. As opposed to the period prior to the 1930s, a period Paul Krugman calls the "long gilded age," when very high incomes were due to the assets (stocks, bonds, and property) owned by the super-rich, asset ownership "is no longer the main source of elite status. These days even multimillionaires get most of their income in the form of paid compensation for their labor."6 He continues:

Needless to say we're not talking about wage slaves toiling for an hourly rate. If the quintessential high-income American circa 1905 was an industrial baron who owned factories, his counterpart a hundred years later is a top executive, lavishly rewarded for his labors with bonuses and stock options. Even at the very top, the highest 0.01 percent of the population-the richest one in ten thousand-almost half of income comes in the form of compensation.7

Why is this happening in Canada and many other developed countries? The causes tend to fall into two broad categories: market forces and institutional forces.

Market forces, particularly skill-biased technical change and increased globalization, are creating a rising demand for highly skilled labour. As Edward Lazear, chairman of the U.S. President's Council of Economic Advisors, noted in a 2006 speech: "In our technologically advanced society, skill has higher value than it does in a less technologically advanced society."8 As developed countries import more low-skills-intensive goods and export more skills-intensive goods, jobs in low-skilled industries are lost in those developed countries.

Not all researchers agree that skill-biased technical change (SBTC) and globalization are at the root of all or even most of the rising inequality. In a paper published in the Journal of Labor Economics, David Card and John DiNardo argue that "contrary to the impression conveyed by most of the recent literature, the SBTC hypothesis falls short as a unicausal explanation."9

An alternative explanation, put forward by Krugman and others, is that the increase in inequality can be attributed to institutional forces, like declines in unionization rates, stagnating minimum wage rates, deregulation, and national policies that favour the wealthy. In Canada, Yalnizyan notes that falling top marginal tax rates are part of the explanation for the rise of the richest 1 per cent of the population.10

If the rich are getting richer, are the poor getting poorer?

Not necessarily. It is possible for the relative gap between the rich and poor to widen, even while all Canadians see their absolute income levels rise. This is precisely what has happened in Canada. The average income level of the poorest group of people in Canada-after taxes and transfers and after adjusting for inflation-rose over the time period for which we have data-but only marginally. It rose from $12,400 in 1976 to $14,500 in 2009.

The poor did get notably poorer in two periods. The recession in the early 1980s caused the income level of the poorest group to fall from $13,500 in 1981 to $12,300 in 1983. The economy bounced back quickly from that recession, however, and income levels recovered. This was not the case for the 1991-93 recession, the effects of which lingered for most of the decade. Between 1989 and 1998, real average incomes among the poorest group fell by an average of 2.2 per cent per year. This decline was due largely to recession effects on earnings, but also to the fact that average transfers from governments fell over that period.

While the poor did not get poorer according to absolute real income levels, they did get poorer in a relative sense. The gap between the real average income of the richest group (fifth quintile) of Canadians and the poorest group (first quintile) grew from $92,300 in 1976 to $117,500 in 2009. Thus, while the poor are minimally better off in an absolute sense, they are significantly worse off in a relative sense.

What about the share of people in low income? Has this increased?

The answer to this question depends on how you define a person with low income. Statistics Canada produces two relative measures: the low income measure (LIM) and the low income cut-off (LICO) measure. Human Resources and Skills Development Canada has developed an absolute measure: the market basket measure (MBM).11

Low income measure: The LIM is defined as half the median family income. A person whose income is below that level is said to be in low income. The LIM is adjusted for family size.

Low income cut-off: The LICO is the income level below which a family would devote at least 20 percentage points more of their income on food, clothing, and shelter than an average family would. People are said to be in the low-income group if their income falls below this threshold. The threshold varies by family size and community size, as well as if income is calculated before or after taxes. For example, a single individual in Toronto would be said to be living in low income if his or her 2009 after-tax income was below $18,421.

Market basket measure: The MBM is a measure of the disposable income a family would need to be able to purchase a basket of goods that includes food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and other basic needs. The dollar value of the MBM varies by family size and composition, as well as community size and location. MBM data are available since 2000 only.

The three measures produce different results. In 2009, according to each measure, the following numbers of Canadians were living in low income:

LICO-3.2 million (9.6 per cent of the population)

MBM-3.5 million (10.6 per cent)

LIM-4.4 million (13.3 per cent)

The chart shows how the three measures also produce different results over time. Using the LICO measure results in a decreasing share of people in low income from 1996 to 2007, followed by a slight upturn in 2008 and 2009. The LIM measure results in a share of people in low income that has increased since 1990. The MBM, which has data starting only in 2000, shows results similar to the LICO but with a sharper upturn in 2008 and 2009.

Which measure of low income is best?

There are pros and cons to each measure.12 Absolute measures-such as the market basket measure-set the poverty threshold at some minimum income required to maintain a particular standard of living. Relative measures, such the LIM and the LICO-set the threshold in relation to some measure of "average" income of the population-usually the median income level-and define people as being in low income if their income is substantially lower than that average income. Developed nations like Canada usually use relative measures.

The main charge against relative measures is that the threshold does not reflect "real" poverty as measured by the ability to meet basic needs. Another common criticism is that a relative measure would never show poverty as being eradicated unless a country had a completely flat income distribution.

Supporters of a relative measure argue that it takes into account the critical issue of social exclusion. To participate fully in society, individuals need a level of resources that is not too far below the norm in that community. Falling markedly behind the community average means effective exclusion from the normal life of society. As John Kenneth Galbraith argued in The Affluent Society, a relative measure of poverty accounts for what the poor cannot have as the minimum necessary for decency-the poor "are degraded, for, in a literal sense, they live outside the grades or categories which the community regards as respectable."13 A recent House of Commons report on poverty quoted Peter Townsend, the late British sociologist:

Individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be in poverty when they lack the resources to obtain the types of diet, participate in the activities and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or at least widely encouraged, or approved, in the societies to which they belong. Their resources are so seriously below those commanded by the average individual or family that they are, in effect, excluded from ordinary living patterns, customs and activities.14

Evidence from the World Values Survey tends to support a relative measure. Researchers Richard Ball and Kateryna Chernova found that changes in relative income had a much larger impact on happiness than did changes in absolute income.15

Absolute measures are commonly used in developing countries to signify the minimum income needed for survival. For example, the United Nations uses the level of US$1 a day as the approximate minimum income needed for physical survival in many developing countries.

But a relative measure, LIM, is used most frequently by developed countries to compare international results. Indeed, the relative concept of poverty-as measured by LIM or LICO-is much more closely related to the Conference Board's goal-to measure and compare the "quality of life" of Canadians-than strict requirements for food and shelter that enable a person to physically survive.

The MBM measure, however, is useful for comparing low-income rates among provinces and cities, since the threshold varies not only by family size and composition but also by community size and geographic location. Statistics Canada uses the MBM to compare provinces.

Do low-income shares vary among the provinces?

Obvious income differences exist among the provinces, as well as among cities. Using the MBM, the percentage of people living in low income in 2009 was highest in two Atlantic provinces and British Columbia. Prince Edward Island and Quebec had the lowest rates.

The earliest year for which data are available is 2000. Between 2000 and 2009, every province except Ontario reduced its low-income rate. Examining the recent recession, however, reveals that between 2007 and 2009, seven out of ten provinces experienced a rise in their share of populations living in low income. Only P.E.I., Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick enjoyed a decrease. The largest jump in the low-income rate occurred in Alberta-it went from 6.6 per cent to 9.9 per cent.

Research from the Conference Board's Centre for the North has revealed that, of Canada's 288 census divisions, the five with the lowest median incomes are in Canada's North: three in Northern Manitoba, one in Northern Saskatchewan, and one in Northern British Columbia.16 However, the three census divisions with the highest median income are also in the North, because of the oil sands, diamonds, and natural gas.17

Do low-income shares vary among Canadian cities?

Of Canada's larger cities, Vancouver had the highest share of its population in low income in 2009, followed by St. John's and Halifax. Toronto had the fourth largest low-income rate. Québec City and Regina had the lowest population shares in low income.

Success in reducing low income also varied by city. Seven out of the ten cities in the above chart reduced their MBM low-income rate between 2000 and 2009. The three exceptions were Toronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver. Not surprisingly, however, rates rose in most cities during the recent recession.

Who are the at-risk groups for low income?

Low income is more prevalent in certain at-risk groups. The recent House of Commons report on poverty identified 10 groups that were most at risk of experiencing low income: children, lone-parent families (particularly female lone-parent families), women, unattached individuals, seniors, Aboriginal people, people with disabilities, recent immigrants, visible minorities, and low-wage workers.18

After 20 years of dramatic reductions, Canada's elderly poverty rate has been rising since the mid-1990s, a worrisome trend. Among the elderly, the biggest jump occurred in the group of elderly women. Between 2006 and 2009, nearly 128,000 more seniors were said to be living in low income. Of that amount, 70 per cent were women.

On the bright side, Canada's record on intergenerational income mobility is much better than that of many of its peers. Income mobility can be seen as a measure of equality of opportunity. There is less relationship between a family's background in Canada and the adult incomes of that family's children. Only 19 per cent of a family's disadvantage is passed on to their children. This means, for example, that if a family earns $10,000 less income than the average, the children will earn $1,900 less than the average. For a family in the U.S., the children would earn $4,700 less; in the U.K., the children would earn $5,000 less.

Do government taxes and transfers help to reduce inequality?

Yes. Personal income taxes and government transfers (such as social assistance, employment insurance, child benefits, and old age security) have helped to reduce income inequality. We can see this by comparing inequality using three income measures:

Market income refers to the sum of earnings (from employment and net self-employment), net investment income, private retirement income, and the items under other income. It is also called income before taxes and transfers.

Total income refers to income from all sources-including government transfers-but before deduction of federal and provincial income taxes.

Income after taxes and transfers refers to total income less federal and provincial income taxes.

In 1976, the first year for which data are available, the Gini index was 0.38 using market income. When government transfers are added to income, the Gini index fell to 0.33-meaning that income inequality was reduced. When the effect of the tax system is included, income inequality fell again-the Gini index was 0.30.

But Canada's tax and transfer system is not reducing income inequality as much as it did prior to 1994. The following chart shows how taxes and transfers have reduced the Gini index. Between 1976 and 1994, the effect of the tax and transfer system was to increasingly reduce income inequality. Since 1994, however, the trend has reversed. In effect, while the tax and transfer system still plays an important role in reducing income inequality, the redistributive effect of the tax and transfer system has grown weaker since 1994.

Another way of looking at the effect of the tax and transfer system is to compare average income levels of the poorest and richest groups before and after taxes and transfers. In 2009, the richest group had 24.6 times as much market income as those in the poorest group. After taking into account taxes and transfers, the richest group had 9.1 times as much income as the poorest group. This means that government taxes and transfers are reducing income inequality.

As we saw using the Gini index, however, the tax and transfer system is not reducing the income gap as much as it once did. In 1989, the richest group had 7.2 times more income after taxes and transfers than the poorest group. This increased to 9.1 times in 2009.

One explanation for the weaker impact of the tax and transfer system on income inequality in Canada is the restructuring of many programs that help to reduce inequality. For example, there has been erosion in the employment insurance (EI) program. One indicator of EI generosity is the beneficiaries-to-unemployed ratio. Ken Battle, Michael Mendelson, and Sherri Torjman estimate that this ratio fell from 82.9 per cent in 1990 to 47.8 per cent in 2009.19 This means that a smaller share of unemployed people are getting unemployment benefits.

Another possible reason is that welfare incomes are not as high as they were prior to 1994. For example, for a single parent with one child, average welfare income fell from nearly $18,200 in 1994 to just above $17,000 in 2009.20

Using the example of a lone parent with one child again and comparing the average welfare income in 2009 with the 2009 market basket measure low-income line, it is clear that this person would be considered in low income in every province. Welfare income is lower than the MBM low-income line all across Canada. The biggest gap is in Alberta, while the smallest gap is in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Footnotes

1 All income data on this hot topic webpage come from Income in Canada 2009 published by Statistics Canada.

2 Paul Krugman, The Conscience of a Liberal (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2009), 125.

4 Ibid., 3.

5 Ibid., 15.

6 Krugman, The Conscience of a Liberal, 130.

7 Ibid., 130.

8 Edward P. Lazear, " The State of the U.S. Economy and Labor Market." Remarks at the Hudson Institute, May 2, 2006 (accessed February 28, 2010).

9 David Card and John E. DiNardo, "Skill Biased Technological Change and Rising Wage Inequality: Some Problems and Puzzles," Journal of Labor Economics 20, 4 (2002), 735

12 An overview of the differences between low-income lines can be found in Xuelin Zhang, Low Income Measurement in Canada: What Do Different Lines and Indexes Tell Us? Research Paper #75F0002MIE (Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2010).

13 John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society (Boston: HoughtonMifflin, 1998), 235.

15 Richard Ball and Kateryna Chernova, "Absolute Income, Relative Income, and Happiness," Social Indicators Research 88, 3 (2007), 497.

17 Ibid.

20 Data on welfare income come from the National Council on Welfare. Each province's average welfare income was weighted by its population.

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Focus area- Canadian Economics Income inequality in Canada has increased over the past 20 years. The richest group of Canadians increased its share of total national income between 1993 and 2008, while the poorest group lost share. Middle-income Canadians also lost share.

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This is a graphic I found that was an interesting look into the products we as Canadians buy.  The percentages are an accumulation of statistics of surveys performed asking Canadians if they bought Canadian products in each of the Categories shown above.

While I remain weary of the scientific accuracy of this graphic, it is interesting to see the general idea that Canadians typically buy less than half of their goods from Canadian suppliers. It is also very interesting that food and beverages are more commonly purchased Canadian while electronics are not, I wonder how this picture may look different in a country that hosts such companies as Samsung or other tech companies.

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This padlet is organized into the three questions posed and focuses on answering these questions as they pertain to Canada. These questions are "what is produced?" so that section will show some examples of productions that are found here in Canada. The second question is "How are these good produced?" and this section will show some of the modern technologies used. The third section answers "Who will get these goods/services?", this section mostly goes over wealth distribution and the popularity of Canadian products in Canada, and whether we actually use all the products we produce.

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What did you learn about your topic that surprised you the most?

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What did you learn about your topic that surprised you the most?

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I learned a great deal about the various industries in Canada. What was most interesting/surprising was that we actually dont use as many Canadian products as we think, and also that we have such a large reserve of Oil. I always knew we were rich in natural resources but the extent was certainly surprising.

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Provide a real-life example of how this topic is relevant or interesting for you.

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Provide a real-life example of how this topic is relevant or interesting for you.

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This topic affects me greatly as it should every Canadian. We have importance in the global economy and we should be making our political and economic decisions based on our relative strengths. Our technology sector is ever growing and our agricultural sector is massive , we certainly are a unique country that can fall under the shadow of our neighboring superpowers, but we have many economic strengths of our own, in our own right.

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. If you could pass on your knowledge to a family member or friend, what do you think is the most important thing to pass on?

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. If you could pass on your knowledge to a family member or friend, what do you think is the most important thing to pass on?

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I think purchasing and promoting Canadian goods/services should be important for everyone. While you cant manufacture everything we should certainly lean into giving our own productions importance, even if it comes at slightly higher financial cost.

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In the circular flow model money flows in one direction, while goods and services flow in the other.  House hold sell labor in exchange for wage, land can be exchanged for rent and firms sell goods in exchange for money.

This model is effective in showing the movement of capital and also the typical flow of products though an economic system.

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This video is really great resource for explaining the movement of money.  Not every point pertains to this specific topic but it certainly answers the question of "Who will get the goods and services?".  This video starts by talking about buyers and sellers and by the end breaks into the topics of government lending and debt.

For our purposes i relate this video back to the simple circular flow model as seen above.  In command economies resource allocation is decided by government, in a market economy these resources are owned privately and prices are decided by market changes.  Canada is a mixture of these two , a mixed market, a very common economic system.

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How The Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio

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toaday i am going to demonstrate on how to die