As of late, Canada’s has become a Mecca for blue collar workers. The “culprit” is the employment explosion in the oil and gas, mining and construction industries.
As a result, young men with only a high school education have been enjoying a rising rate in earnings. In contrast, their university educated counterparts saw their paycheques mostly shrink, not increase.
According to a survey of Canadian workforce conducted last year, for the past five years, men between 25 and 34, having only a high school diploma, reported an increase in average weekly earnings of 5.2%. An even more intriguing number was for young men without a high school diploma, who saw their wages rise 7.8% in the same period. All the while, university graduates reported their average salaries shrink 2.8%.
Before kids today take these statistics as a ringing endorsement not to pursue university education, there are two things they should consider. Firstly, whatever goes up must come down. The same applies to anything experiencing a steep growth curve, including blue-collars’ earnings growth. Earnings growth at this rate is hardly sustainable. The demand is likely to reach the critical mass in the near future, implode and drive the earnings growth down eventually.
Also, although wages of university grads shrank, they still earned at least CDN$14,500 more than their high school dropout counterparts. Statistics Canada reported that a high school dropout earned on average $685.00 per week, a high school graduate earned $758.00 per week, while a university grad earned $802.00 per week.
As a parent, all I want for my kid is to be happy. But I also want him to be wise about his career choices. Every statistic has to be taken within a certain context and with all the relevant variables. In case of going after higher education, I’d say that staying in school is a much more profitable decision in the long term, and for all the concerned parties.
