Gap between rich and poor growing faster in Canada than in U.S.
Eric Lam Sep 13, 2011 – 12:22 PM ET
Last Updated: Sep 13, 2011 12:23 PM ET
Source - Financial Post
A homeless man collects change on Queen St. West in Toronto.
The rich may still be getting richer while the poor are still getting poorer, but it turns out it is happening much faster in Canada than it is in the United States, a new report from the Conference Board of Canada said Tuesday.
Anne Golden, chief executive with the Conference Board, said the Canadian rich-poor income gap is among the fastest growing in the world since the mid-1990s.
“Even though the U.S. currently has the largest rich-poor income gap among these countries, the gap in Canada has been rising at a faster rate,” she said in a release. “High inequality both raises a moral question about fairness and can contribute to social tensions.”
Canada has had the fourth largest increase among its peers, trailing only Sweden, Finland and Denmark, although all three are still considered low-inequality countries.
Between the mid-’90s and late 2000s, income inequality rose in 10 of 17 peer countries, including Canada. Japan and Norway stayed unchanged, while five countries actually declined.
The report uses the Gini Index, which expresses how far distribution of incomes deviates from perfect equality.
An index rating of zero means every person in society has the same income, while a rating of one means that one person has all the income.
Between the mid-’90s and 2000s, Canada’s rating rose to 0.320 from 0.293. By comparison, the United States moved to 0.378 from 0.361.
Index ranges between 0.3 and 0.4 are considered medium inequality.
Posted in: Economy Tags: Canada, Conference Board of Canada, anne golden, Canada economy, rich, poor, Gini index
Eric Lam Sep 13, 2011 – 12:22 PM ET
Last Updated: Sep 13, 2011 12:23 PM ET
Source - Financial Post
A homeless man collects change on Queen St. West in Toronto.The rich may still be getting richer while the poor are still getting poorer, but it turns out it is happening much faster in Canada than it is in the United States, a new report from the Conference Board of Canada said Tuesday.
Anne Golden, chief executive with the Conference Board, said the Canadian rich-poor income gap is among the fastest growing in the world since the mid-1990s.
“Even though the U.S. currently has the largest rich-poor income gap among these countries, the gap in Canada has been rising at a faster rate,” she said in a release. “High inequality both raises a moral question about fairness and can contribute to social tensions.”
Canada has had the fourth largest increase among its peers, trailing only Sweden, Finland and Denmark, although all three are still considered low-inequality countries.
Between the mid-’90s and late 2000s, income inequality rose in 10 of 17 peer countries, including Canada. Japan and Norway stayed unchanged, while five countries actually declined.
The report uses the Gini Index, which expresses how far distribution of incomes deviates from perfect equality.
An index rating of zero means every person in society has the same income, while a rating of one means that one person has all the income.
Between the mid-’90s and 2000s, Canada’s rating rose to 0.320 from 0.293. By comparison, the United States moved to 0.378 from 0.361.
Index ranges between 0.3 and 0.4 are considered medium inequality.
Posted in: Economy Tags: Canada, Conference Board of Canada, anne golden, Canada economy, rich, poor, Gini index