Income Gap Increasing Faster in Canada Than US
Sep 16, 2011
Analysis from the Conference Board of Canada finds that, since the mid-1990s, income inequality has been rising more rapidly in Canada than in the United States. The findings are part of the Conference Board’s ’How Canada Performs’ analysis of world income inequality.
“Canada had the fourth largest increase in income inequality among its peers,” said Anne Golden, President and CEO of the Conference Board.
“Even though the US currently has the largest rich-poor income gap among these countries, the gap in Canada has been rising at a faster rate.”
Growing inequality in Canada has been a prominent concern of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and a central aspect of its All Together Now! campaign.
In a March 2011 commentary, NUPGE National President James Clancy highlighted the growing inequality problem in Canada.
"How bad is it in Canada? Really bad. And it is getting worse. The income trend over the last 30 years shows that a few Canadians at the top have made out well, but the vast majority of us have been getting nowhere or falling behind. Canada is becoming a radically less equal society."
Golden further says that “as we highlighted in our analysis of Canadian income inequality in July, high inequality both raises a moral question about fairness and can contribute to social tensions. In Canada, the gap between the rich and poor has widened over two decades, especially compared to our peer countries.”
Between the mid-1990s and the late 2000s, income inequality rose in 10 of 17 peer countries—including Canada—while it remained unchanged in Japan and Norway, and declined in five countries.
Sweden, Finland and Denmark had the three largest increases in income inequality during the 1990s and 2000s, but all three are still considered low-inequality countries.
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Americans seem to be responding to the issue, unlike Canadians. Check out the "Occupy Wall Street" protest. https://occupywallst.org/
kachina - 2011-10-01 20:46