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>Subject: [workfare] Median Canadian wealth hits $81,000
>Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 08:03:14 -0500
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> Friday 16 March 2001
>Median Canadian wealth hits $81,000
>Many Canadians are better off, but news isn't so good for the poor
>Eric Beauchesne and Bev Wake
>The Ottawa Citizen; with files from The Canadian Press
>
>If Canada's Joe Ordinary sold off all his belongings and paid off all his
>debts, he'd be left with $81,000, a new Statistics Canada report reveals.
>
>That median figure is also the dividing line between Canada's wealthiest 6.1
>million households -- and its less well-off 6.1 million households,
>according to the report, the first of its kind since 1984.
>
>While that figure represents an increase of 11 per cent over 15 years for
>Canada's median family, that increase wasn't shared across the wealth
>spectrum. The richest 20 per cent of families saw their worth increase
>almost 40 per cent over 15 years, while the poorest 40 per cent of families
>saw little change.
>
>"The rich are getting richer in Canada and the poor have not improved their
>position one iota," said Jim Stanford, an economist with Canadian Auto
>Workers. "It also shows that whatever government has done to try and stop
>inequality over the last decade is not working. Inequality is actually
>getting worse."
>
>The study found that the wealthiest 10 per cent of families owned about 53
>per cent of Canada's $2.9 trillion in net worth in 1999.
>
>When families were ranked from the highest net worth to the lowest, the
>median wealth of the richest 10 per cent of families was $703,500. The
>poorest 10 per cent owed about $2,100 more than they own.
>
>"These figures show there is a very significant wealth divide in Canada,"
>said John Anderson, researcher with the Toronto-based Centre for Social
>Justice. "The bottom half of families have only six per cent of the wealth
>in Canada and that cannot be good for any society."
>
>By comparison, the top 10 per cent of families in the United States held
>about two-thirds of all personal wealth in 1998.
>
>"Wealth and assets, at least in gross terms, are more evenly distributed in
>Canada than the U.S.," said Bob Glossob, executive director of programs for
>the Vanier Institute of the Family. "The bad news is we're moving in the
>direction of the States."
>
>The wealth of families also varied provincially, from a median high of
>$101,400 in Ontario to a low of $53,000 in Newfoundland.
>
>Couples with children fared less well than any other type of family, their
>net worth decreasing slightly over the 15-year span. Elderly people and
>couples with no children at home fared the best, with single elderly people
>recording a 69 per cent increase in wealth since 1984, while elderly
>families and couples with no children at home saw a growth of 42 per cent.
>
>Although lone-parent families gained between 1984 and 1999, in both years
>they were significantly less well off financially than any other type of
>family.
>
>The study suggests the home remains the most valuable asset, accounting for
>almost 40 per cent of family wealth, while mortgages make up about 75 per
>cent of the $458 billion owed.
>
>The most notable difference in terms of assets since 1984 is the growth in
>RRSPs, which accounted for about 15 per cent of a family's assets in 1999.
>
>The amount of money invested in RRSPs was 6.4 times larger in 1999 than in
>1984. Fifty-five per cent of families held RRSPs in 1999, up from 28 per
>cent in 1984. Canadians aged 25 to 34 recorded the biggest jump, with 59 per
>cent of families in that age group reporting RRSPs, more than double the 23
>per cent in 1984.
>
>The other significant change was in student loans. The study suggests the
>total amount of outstanding loans was 6.2 times higher in 1999 than in 1984.
>More than 1.4 million families reported such debt, up from 490,000 in 1984.
>
>Education, however, continued to be a key to wealth. Someone with a
>bachelor's degree, for example, had a median net worth 70 per cent higher
>than someone with a high school diploma. Net worth climbed even further with
>subsequent degrees.
>
>For the purpose of the study, "families" were defined as single people or
>two or more individuals who are related to each other by blood, marriage,
>common-law or adoption living together in the same dwelling. Median figures
>were calculated by ranking all families in order, from highest to lowest
>worth, to find the family in the middle of the range.
>
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