Education Indicators in Canada, biannual
Archived Content
Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.
Released: 2017-03-29
New tables from the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program are now available.
This edition includes information on elementary and secondary school teachers, participation rates in education, working students and labour market transitions.
These indicators provide useful insights on education in Canada. For example, data show that from 2004/2005 to 2014/2015, the proportion of full-time elementary/secondary teachers under the age of 30 decreased, while the comparable proportion of teachers 60 years of age or older increased. This is in line with what has been observed in Canada more generally, namely that the Canadian population is aging and that the older generation is increasingly postponing retirement. During this same time period, the percentage of male full-time teachers continued to decrease steadily.
The university participation rate of young Canadians has risen significantly over the last 20 years while participation in college has remained stable. In 2015/2016, 97% of 15-year-olds were attending school, 24% of 19-year-olds were in college and 36% of 21-year-olds were at university.
These indicators also reveal that during the 2015/2016 school year, at least half of college students aged 17 to 24 were also working. For university students, the older they were, the more likely they were to combine work and school. This may reflect the fact that many older students at universities are graduate students who often combine their studies with teaching or doing research.
In 2016, as in previous years, the data confirmed that in general, the higher a person's educational attainment, the less likely he or she was to be unemployed. However, over the past decade, the unemployment rate for young Canadians aged 25 to 29 who have a university degree has been close to that of similarly aged Canadians who have a college or professional diploma.
The higher the education level of off-reserve Aboriginal (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) people, the smaller the gap between their unemployment rate and the unemployment rate of the total population. In 2016, this gap was 8.5 percentage points for those with a high school diploma and 0.9 percentage points for university graduates.
Note to readers
The Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program is an ongoing initiative of the Canadian Education Statistics Council, a partnership between Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education (Canada) that provides a set of statistical measures on education systems in Canada.
Products
The publication, Education Indicators in Canada: Report of the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program, March 2017 (81-582-X), is now available from the Browse by key resource module of our website, under Publications.
The product, Education Indicators in Canada: Handbook for the Report of the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (81-582-G), is also now available. This handbook provides general descriptions for each indicator, and the major concepts and definitions used, as well as an overview of the methodology, limitations and data sources.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
- Date modified: