Income gap between Aboriginal and non-native people continues to be a challenge
Income gap persists for aboriginal Canadians
April 8, 2010
Income disparity between aboriginal people and other Canadians is decreasing but remains "significant and troubling" and will continue for decades without government support, a new study suggests.
Click here for a copy of the report - The Income Gap Between Aboriginal Peoples and the Rest of Canadians
Without government support, it will take 63 years for the income gap between First Nations, Métis and Inuit and their non-aboriginal counterparts to disappear, says the non-partisan research institute Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, which did the study.
The findings are based on the median incomes of aboriginal people found in census data going back to 1996.
In 1996, the median income of aboriginal Canadians was $12,003 — $9,428 lower than the median income of other Canadians. Five years later, the median aboriginal income had grown to $16,036, but was still $9,045 behind that of other Canadians.
By 2006, the gap had narrowed to $8,135, when the median income of aboriginal Canadians was $18,962.
Reason for hope
Aboriginal people tend to make less regardless of sex, location or education level with one major exception, the study found: the 14 per cent of aboriginal women with at least an undergraduate degree tend to earn $2,471 more than non-aboriginal women with the same education level.
The report calls this discrepancy "a phenomenon," but one that gives "reason for hope," said Dan Wilson, who co-wrote the report.
'You shouldn't need to simply be a BA holder ... before you can get comparable income.'— Dan Wilson, co-author
The report acknowledges "that educational attainment among aboriginal people lags well behind averages for the Canadian population as a whole" and that non-aboriginal Canadians "are still far more likely to complete high school and to get a university degree" than aboriginal Canadians.
In 2006, eight per cent of aboriginal men and 14 per cent of aboriginal women had earned a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 25 per cent of non-aboriginal men and 28 per cent of non-aboriginal women.
"But you shouldn't need to simply be a BA holder or a master's holder before you can get comparable income," Wilson said.
"While education is a driver for income levels in all groups, aboriginal and non-aboriginal, no community is made up entirely of university degree-holders, nor should they be expected to be."
Instead, "there must be jobs available across sectors, pay levels must be roughly equivalent and workforce entrants must be greeted without bias and suspicion," the report said.
+++++++++++
Growing income gap in Canada even worse for Aboriginal peoples
Income inequality has been growing in Canada, but it's even worse for Aboriginal peoples.
For every dollar non-Aboriginals earned in 2006, Aboriginal peoples earned only 70 cents – a slight narrowing from 1996 when it was 56 cents for every dollar.
The gap between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canadians narrowed slightly between 1996 and 2006, but at this rate it won’t disappear for another 63 years without a new approach.
April 8, 2010
OTTAWA – Income inequality between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canadians is stubbornly high, says a groundbreaking new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
For every dollar non-Aboriginals earned in 2006, Aboriginal peoples earned only 70 cents – a slight narrowing from 1996 when it was 56 cents for every dollar, say co-authors Dan Wilson and David Macdonald, who dug into 2006 Census data to quantify, for the first time ever, the Aboriginal income gap in Canada.
“The gap between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canadians narrowed slightly between 1996 and 2006, but at this rate it won’t disappear for another 63 years without a new approach,” says Wilson. “Ironically, if and when parity with non-Aboriginals is achieved, Aboriginal peoples will reach the same level of income inequality as the rest of Canadians – which is getting worse.”
Key findings in The Income Gap Between Aboriginal Peoples and the Rest of Canadians:
* The gap is big: In 2006, the median income for Aboriginal peoples was $18,962 – 30 per cent lower than the $27,097 median income for the rest of Canadians.
* The gap persists, even on reserves: First Nations people working on urban reserves earn 75 cents for every dollar a non-First Nations person makes; on rural reserves they earn 53 cents per dollar that a non-First Nations person makes.
* New gender trends: Aboriginal women are now earning median incomes closer to those of Aboriginal men – a trend that isn’t being replicated in the general Canadian population. They’re also getting high school diplomas and university degrees at a higher rate than Aboriginal men.
* Education is one part of the answer: Aboriginal women who graduated with at least a Bachelor’s degree now have higher median incomes than non-Aboriginal Canadian women with equivalent education.
“The findings in this study suggest reason for hope,” Wilson says. “Wiping out Aboriginal poverty and closing the income gap is a possibility, within our lifetime. But it requires new commitment from our governments to make it happen.”
-- 30 --
Dan Wilson is a researcher of Mi’kmaq, Acadian and Irish heritage who previously worked for the Assembly of First Nations. David Macdonald is an economist and Research Associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Their report can be downloaded at www.policyalternatives.ca
For more information please contact: Trish Hennessy (416) 525-4927.