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Side menu bar Catalogue Number 75-001-XIE Table of contents Latest issue News from The Daily Latest data Survey information Back issues Feedback Studies Latest issue in PDF

May 2005
Vol. 6, no. 5

Perspectives on Labour and Income

News from The Daily


Total family income
For the first time ever, couple families in Oshawa had the highest median total family income among all census metropolitan areas. The median for couple families in Oshawa reached $80,300 in 2003, up a slight 0.3% over 2002, after adjusting for inflation.

After-tax family income
After five consecutive years of strong growth, average after-tax income reached a plateau for almost every type of family in Canada. After-tax family income remained virtually unchanged for the second year in a row in 2003.

Labour Force Survey
Employment increased by an estimated 29,000 in April following modest job growth over the previous five months. The unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 6.8%, the lowest since December 2000.

Income of individuals
In 2003, the median total income of individuals in Canada edged down 0.6% to $23,600 in comparison with 2002. Median employment income fell 0.7% to $24,800.

Research and development personnel
Employment in research and development activities in Canada increased by over one-third during the past decade. In 2002, over 177, 000 people were working in research and development (R&D) activities, up from only 127, 000 in 1993, a gain of 39%.

Wholesalers a key link in the economy
Wholesale trade was a beacon when it came to employment, with new jobs tending to be high paying and full time. Between 1997 and 2004, employment in the industry increased 28.2%, nearly double the rate of growth in both manufacturing and retail trade.

Labour markets, business activity and mobility in urban centres
Between 1981 and 2001, employment and unemployment rates in most census metropolitan areas converged toward the national average thanks to improvements in urban areas where labour markets were weakest in 1981.

Low-paid work and economically vulnerable families
Even though today's workers are better educated and more experienced than their counterparts in the early 1980s, their chances of being employed in a low-wage job have changed little. However, most of them do not live in low-income families.

Federal personal income tax
The 10% of taxfilers with the highest incomes (more than $64,500 in 2002) paid more than 50% of federal personal income tax in 2002. Between 1990 and 2002, their share went from 46.0% to 52.6%. At the other end of the scale, the one-half of taxfilers with the lowest incomes saw their share decline, from 6.7% to 4.4%.


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