New research says bottom half of families in Ontario are earning less, while richer families earn more

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/income-inequality-report-ccpa-1.4246874

“The poorest families in Ontario are earning less than they were in 2000, while during the same period richer families have watched their income grow, according to a new economic report.

The analysis by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) describes an increasingly “polarized” Ontario labour market that is shifting away from stable manufacturing jobs to more precarious service sector work and rewarding higher-earning families while punishing poorer ones.

“Really there are two different labour markets in Ontario,” the report’s author and CCPA senior economist Sheila Block said in an interview

The new report, titled Losing Ground, analyzed income data for families with children between 2000 and 2015. During that time, higher earning families increased their share of the income pie.The top half of Ontario families in terms of income now takes home 81 per cent of all earnings, up from 78 per cent in 2000.

“It’s a totally different story for families in the bottom half,” Block said.

The poorest half of Ontario families’ share of earnings shrunk from 22 per cent in 2000 to 19 per cent in 2015.”

Stephen