By Fraser Institute ——Bio and Archives--August 27, 2023
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TORONTO—In a ranking of employment incomes in the largest 141 metropolitan areas in Canada and the United States, only two Canadian cities rank in the top half, with most Canadian metro areas ranking near the bottom, finds a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“Canadians in our largest urban centres are generally earning less employment income than people living in comparable American cities,” said Ben Eisen, Fraser Institute senior fellow and co-author of Comparing Median Employment Income in Large Canadian and American Metropolitan Areas.
The study compares median employment income—wages, salaries and commissions from paid and self-employment income (net) before taxes and government transfers—in the 141 largest metropolitan areas in Canada and the United States.
Out of the 14 Canadian CMAs included in the study, only two rank in the top half, while the bottom ten per cent of the rankings includes a significant number of Canadian metropolitan areas—lagging far behind their American counterparts.
The highest-ranking Canadian metro area is Ottawa-Gatineau (52 out of 141), at $45,500, followed closely by Edmonton (53) at $45,470, then Calgary (72) at $43,870. The lowest ranking Canadian CMAs are St. Catharines-Niagara (138) at $31,540, London (135) at $36,180, and lastly Montreal (134) at $36,660.
Crucially, Canada's largest cities, including Montreal (134th), Toronto (127th), and Vancouver (131st), which represent a significant portion (35.9 per cent) of the country's population, rank among the lowest employment incomes in all 141 cities in the analysis.
“Employment incomes are generally higher in US metropolitan areas—big and small—than they are in Canadian cities,” said Eisen.
Media Contact:
Ben Eisen, Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
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Drue MacPherson, Fraser Institute
drue.macpherson@fraserinstitute.org
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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of 86 think-tanks. Its mission is to measure, study, and communicate the impact of competitive markets and government intervention on the welfare of individuals. To protect the Institute’s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit fraserinstitute.org.
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