A Canadian man with a bachelor’s degree earned an average of hundreds of thousands of dollars more than a high school graduate over the past 20 years, according to new Statistics Canada data.
A from 1991 to 2010, starting at age 35, found that men with a bachelor’s degree made an average of $732,000 more than those who only had a high school diploma.
The earnings gap was not as large among women, but it was still significant.
Over the 20-year-period, women with a bachelor’s degree made an average of $448,000 more than high school graduates.
Here’s how the average earnings, adjusted for inflation, compare over 20 years:
Men
- Bachelor’s degree: $1,707,000
- College certificate: $1,222,000
- High school diploma:$975,000
Women
- Bachelor’s degree: $973,000
- College certificate: $704,000
- High school diploma:$525,000
StatsCan attributes the gender gap to the higher likelihood of women working in the public sector. Although women in top public sector positions often out-earn their male counterparts, men with university degrees make much more in the private sector, the agency says.
The StatsCan analysis also found that college- and university-educated Canadians experienced fewer layoffs than people with a high school diploma. They also had more years of participation in employer-sponsored pension plans over the two decades.
The findings were based on longitudinal tax data linked to 1991 Census data.