The Business & Community Newsletter – September 2017

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The Business & Community Newsletter

In this month's newsletter we are highlighting Statistics Canada's fourth set of 2016 Census data.

Feature articles

Results from the 2016 Census of Population: Income

a flow of money into a houseThe fourth round of data from the 2016 Census of Population was published on September 13, 2017. This release presents statistics on individual, family and household income at various levels of geography and for various demographic groups. It includes median income, income from a given source, income distribution, and the prevalence of low income.

What's interesting about this release is that, for the first time, the Census of Population Program gathered income information solely from administrative data sources. This allowed Statistics Canada to reduce the burden on respondents during the collection period and increase the quality and quantity of the available data.

As with all releases, the story of Canada as seen through the 2016 Census is supplemented by data visualization products, including an infographic. We encourage you to try some of our interactive tools, such as the Focus on Geography Series, to find data about your municipality.

Also available are reference materials such as the Dictionary, Census of Population, 2016 and the Guide to the Census of Population, 2016, which are designed to help users make the most of census data.

Stay tuned! The last two major census releases, on October 25, 2017, and November 29, 2017, will feature data on ethnocultural diversity, housing, education and labour characteristics, and will provide additional data on income.

For more information, please visit the Census Program module on Statistics Canada's website.

Infographics

Infographic thumbnail - Income in CanadaBased on the data from the 2016 Census, the following infographic looks at income in Canada, including median household income, proportions of the population living in low-income households, the use of a registered savings accounts and income among partners.

Quiz

A man looking surprized

How much do you know about income in Canada? Take this short quiz to find out. Answers can be found at the end of this newsletter.

  1. In 2015, the median total income of Canadian households was ______.
    1. $63,457
    2. $70,336
    3. $86,500
  2. Led by growth in resource-rich provinces, median income rose ______ in Canada from 2005 to 2015, compared with 9.2% growth in the previous decade and a decline of 1.8% the decade before that.
    1. 10.8%
    2. 11.2%
    3. 14.6%
  3. In 2015, ______ of Canadian couples had both spouses reporting income, up significantly from about two-thirds in the mid-1970s.
    1. 85%
    2. 91%
    3. 96%
  4. ______ of couples had fairly equal incomes in 2015 compared with about one-fifth of couples 30 years earlier.
    1. Half
    2. One third
    3. One fourth
  5. ______ (+36.7%) had the highest growth in median income over the past decade.
    1. Ontario
    2. Nova Scotia
    3. Nunavut
  6. ______ ($59,347) had the lowest median income in Canada in 2015, followed by Quebec ($59,822).
    1. Northwest Territories
    2. Saskatchewan
    3. New Brunswick
  7. Younger Canadians were more likely to live in low income than adults in 2015. Among children 17 years of age and younger, the low income rate was ______ compared with 13.4% for Canadian adults.
    1. 17%
    2. 22%
    3. 27%
  8. The metropolitan areas with the largest increases in low income were in ______, where every large metropolitan area saw an increase in their low income rate.
    1. Manitoba
    2. Ontario
    3. Alberta

Also worth reading

Canadian Megatrends logo

Canadian youth and full-time work: A slower transition

A business man and woman

Families across the country often discuss the job prospects of young people and how these prospects have changed since the days of their parents and grandparents. These conversations can be full of anecdotes and questions about generations past. How have the employment opportunities of young women changed since Canada's Centennial in 1967? Can a young man still follow in his father's footsteps and get a full-time job out of school? Can young people expect to make more than their parents did when they were young?

This edition of Canadian Megatrends, "Canadian youth and full-time work: A slower transition," takes a more empirical approach to some of these questions, looking at labour force participation, unemployment, full-time and part-time work, and real wages for workers in Canada from 1946 to 2015. The transitions to the labour force have slowed as young people spend more time in school or training, and then enter a workforce that has changed significantly over seven decades.

By the Numbers…

an apple and school supplies

Back to school... by the numbers

97% of 15-year-olds were attending school in 2015/2016 while 24% of 19-year-olds were in college in 2015/2016, and at least half of college students aged 17 to 24 were also working.

Interested in more along these lines? Have a look at Back to school... by the numbers.

Answers to the quiz:

  1. b)
  2. a)
  3. c)
  4. b)
  5. c)
  6. c)
  7. a)
  8. b)
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