>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 20:38:09 -0400 >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: Bob Olsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Falling Behind: The State of Working Canada 2000 >Mime-Version: 1.0 > > > > Undergraduate tuition fees rose by 126% > > > The private share of all health care spending > rose from 24% to 30%. > > > Private health care spending per person rose by > 19.6% to $733, while public health care spending > per person fell by 5.1% to $1680 between 1990 and > 1998. > > > > > From....... > > "Falling Behind: The State of Working Canada 2000" by Ed Finn > >Long-Term Trends > > * Real GDP per person in Canada - which is divided between households, > businesses and governments - grew by an average of just 1.05% per year > in the 1990s, down from an annual average increase of 1.9% in the > 1980s, 2.2% in the 1970s, and 3.7% in the 1960s. > > * Real personal disposable (after tax) income per person fell by an > average of 0.33% per year in the 1990s, down from an annual average > increase of 1.1% in the 1980s, 3.0% in the 1970s, and 3.9% in the > 1960s. Thus, in 1999, real personal disposable income per Canadian was > 3.3% lower than in 1989. > > * There has been no increase for more than 20 years in the real annual > earnings of Canadian men working on a full-time, full year basis. In > 1997, such men earned an average $42,626, compared to $42,635 in 1975 > (expressed in constant 1997 dollars.) > > * Between 1981 and 1995, only the top 10% of male earners experienced > any increase at all in their real annual earnings (up 6.2% over the > entire period). The real annual earnings of the bottom 90% of men > fell, and they fell the most for lower earners, with the real annual > earnings of the bottom 10% of men falling by 31.7%. This fall was the > result of declining real weekly wages, and a major reduction in the > number of weeks worked in the year by lower paid workers. > > * The annual pay gap between men and women working full-time on a full- > year basis narrowed between 1975 and 1997, with the average earnings > of such women rising from 60% to 72% of those of comparable men. > However, the real annual earnings of such women rose by just 12.8% in > the entire period from 1980 to 1997, despite some increase in weekly > hours worked, and only half of all women in the labour force work on a > full-time, full year basis. > > * The average annual national unemployment rate has increased from 5.0% > in the 1960s, to 6.7% in the 1970s, to 9.3% in the 1980s, to 9.6% in > the 1990s. The average length of a spell of unemployment has increased > from 14 weeks in 1976, to 18 weeks in 1989, to more than 20 weeks in > the 1990s. On a brighter note, by the end of 1999 the national > unemployment rate had finally fallen below 7%. > > * Between 1983 and 1992, the median real annual earnings of young women > workers aged 20 to 24 fell by 24%, and those of young men by 22%. > > * Between 1980 and 1996, because of flat or falling wages and rising > unemployment, lower income families came to rely more on transfer > payments from governments (UI, social assistance, public pensions > etc.) Transfer payments made up 59% of the income of the lowest income > 20% of Canadian families in 1996, up from 46% in 1980; and 25% of the > income of the next 20% of families in 1996, compared to 14% in 1980. > > * Transfer payments make a huge difference to income inequality. In > 1997, the most affluent 20% of Canadian families had 21 times the > income of bottom 20% when only pre tax "market" income (wages, > salaries and investment income) is considered, but just 5 times as > much income after taxes and transfers had redistributed income. > > * The overall poverty (low income) rate in Canada rose from 16.0% in > 1980 to 17.5% in 1997. However, this was the combined result of > declining rates of poverty among the elderly (down from 34% to 19%) > because of improvements to public pensions, and of increasing poverty > rates for younger families with heads aged 25 to 34 (up from 12% to > 19%.) As a result, the child poverty rate also rose, from 16% to 20%. > Child poverty rates have remained stubbornly high even during the > 1990s recovery because of deep cuts to social assistance and UI > benefits. > >Trends in the 1990s > > * Job growth in the 1990s was, until very late in the decade, heavily > tilted towards "precarious" jobs. Between 1989 and 1998, the total > number of self-employed workers grew by 40%, part-time paid jobs grew > by 16%, and full-time, paid jobs grew by just 2%. 70% of the increase > in self- employment was in "own account" businesses with no employees. > On average, in 1996, these "own account" jobs paid men $27,200 per > year, and women just $14,800 per year. Fortunately, strong growth of > full-time, paid jobs resumed at the end of the decade. > > * Over the entire period from 1989 to 1998, average weekly earnings > adjusted for inflation increased by 2.8%, while real output per hour > worked rose by 9.4%. Despite strong economic growth, real average > weekly earnings did not increase in 1999. > > * Between 1989 and 1997, the average "market" income of Canadian > families from wages, salaries, self-employment earnings and > investments (adjusted for inflation) fell from $53,937 to $50,672, and > average family income after taxes and government transfers fell by > 5.6% from $48,311 to $45,605. Poorer families experienced the most > serious decline in both market and after tax/transfer incomes. The > real after tax/transfer incomes of the least well-off 40% of families > with children fell by 12% over this period. > > * Between 1990 and 1998, private health care spending per person rose by > 19.6% to $733, while public health care spending per person fell by > 5.1% to $1680. As a result, the private share of all health care > spending rose from 24% to 30%. Over the same period, undergraduate > tuition fees rose by 126% > > >http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/fallingbehindsum.html > >see also.... > >http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/fallingbehindch1.html > > > > ............................................. > Bob Olsen, Toronto [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ............................................. >
