Education rates, commute times and time at work all growing, census shows
OTTAWA — Canadians are putting in more effort in the classroom, additional time on the job and extra teeth-gnashing minutes on the road getting to and from work, Statistics Canada says in the latest — and last — batch of numbers from the 2016 census.
The data released Wednesday show more than half of Canada’s core working population — those aged 25 to 64 — have earned degrees or diplomas from a college or university, the highest rate among comparable OECD countries, a group that includes the United States.
When it comes to educational laurels, women appear to be closing the gap with men: they accounted for half of all master’s degrees in 2016, and nearly half of all earned doctorates among younger Canadians aged 25 to 34.
The wage gap, however, persists. In Saskatchewan, for instance, a male with an apprenticeship certificate enjoyed a median income of $86,059, roughly $13,000 more than a female with a university degree.