Reviews

Louise Ellis -  June 14, 2017
The associated metrics are always interesting
 
Sheena Snook -  June 29, 2016
Interesting point of view.
 
Kathleen McCollum -  March 19, 2016
 
Stephen Albanese -  August 31, 2015
 
Laurette Glasgow -  June 12, 2015
Clear, concise, and accessible material and solid analysis. What is missing? Policy implications/recommendations and disaggregated information with respect to Aboriginal people.
 
Gloria Jones -  April 17, 2015
Great article!  Very informative.
 
Ellen O'Brien -  March 17, 2015
 
Tsewae Lee -  March 3, 2015
 
Katherine Anderson -  February 2, 2015
Interesting topic. It will be quite a challenge to determine policy solutions and educate young people about the importance of saving/investing, rather than expecting to have everything their parents have. That said, I do think the housing prices in the GTA are prohibitive for many millenials, including professionals.
 
Matthew Wieske -  October 31, 2014
Great article, good support for your claims. Helped me a lot with my research paper!
 
Peter Hicks -  October 30, 2014
The data and detailed analysis in the paper are useful. I particularly admired the effort to create data for hypothetical couples, the only satisfactory way of examining income data is on a household basis. However, as noted by the authors, the results are different from data from actual households, and as the authors also note, many potentially important factors have been left out. So I would assign an A for effort and honesty, but be most cautious in using this data.

My difficulty lies in the overall impression that is left by the paper. It seems to suggest that the research is uncovering, or underscoring, a problem that is problematic and that likely warrants policy attention. That may be the fault of the editors, not the authors themselves. However it is a serious flaw in my view, since the actual data points to a very different conclusion.

First, the paper shows that much of the observed change was driven by gender changes, particularly the major gains made by women in the education system and in the labour market. That is, we are talking about the side-effects of what is a huge success story, not a problem.

Second, there is a real problem for young men in the labour market. However that data show that the deterioration mainly took place in the 80s and 90s and has stabilised and even reversed since then – a fact of rather obvious importance when looking to policy implications.

As well, I think the Conference Board and the authors must seriously ask themselves why quite similar analysis published in 2013 by Statistics Canada (Galarneau et al, ‘What has changed for young people in Canada?’) was not referred to or even listed in the bibliography. It used different data sources and had slightly different purpose, but its content overlaps that of the Conference Board paper quite considerably. The Statistics Canada paper is much more nuanced from the point of view of policy implications, stressing the crucial finding that the problem were largely ones that took place over a decade.
 
Adam Sweet -  October 16, 2014
Great work!
 
Paula Johnson -  October 12, 2014
 
Marco Domaschio -  October 5, 2014
Interesting report on an important issue. The data provides strong support. I was disappointed in that the conclusions do not offer any proposals for policy making. Certainly the private sector has an important role to play in this, and appropriate incentives could be useful.
I also find that the section on the gender wage gap is not central to the report and could have been relegated to an appendix. In effect, while the wage gap is well documented, the increased participation of women in the work force is almost certainly a transition that is now over. It is a one-time effect. In that sense, by removing that one time effect, one could be more forceful about the importance of the generational wage gap. The same goes for couples. Again, this is likely a one-off adjustment, due to a combination of female participation in the work force and the declining purchasing power of younger generations. The bottom line is that the youth are losing out. How to remedy this situation?
 
Joyce Coleman -  September 30, 2014
 
Barry Doucette -  September 30, 2014
 
Denis Houle -  September 30, 2014
 
Kerry Whisnant -  September 25, 2014
While the data is very interesting, the analysis seems superficial to me, perhaps influenced by the recent worry about various income inequalities. A closer look at the yearly data (provided in a table near the end) indicates a more nuanced interpretation.

The older-to-younger income ratio really deteriorated from the beginning of the study (1984, when the 50-54 to 25-29 ratio was 1.42) to about 1996 (when it was 1.73). This happened mainly because older earners income was flat to slightly rising, while younger earners had their income decrease from 1984 to 1996. Then the ratio held relatively steady until 2007 (in the 1.66 to 1.74 range), which means young and old earners had their incomes rise at about the same rate from 1996 to 2007. The ratio then fell sharply (relative to the time it took to rise) to 1.58 in 2010. Thus almost half of the increase from 1984 to 2007 was erased in just three years.

The data changes are fairly smooth, so taking 5-year averages and comparing just the first and last periods loses a lot of information and I think leads to erroneous interpretations. A better description might be the following: 1. The ratio rose from 1984 to 1996, so this is where the big increase occurred, 2. the ratio remained roughly flat from 1996 to 2007, so the two groups improved about equally, 3. the ratio fell from 2007 to 2010, so the younger earners incomes have been improving faster more recently.

It would be very interesting to have data after 2010 to see if the current trend continues. The largest decrease in the ratio was just from 2009 to 2010, so calling the recent drop a trend might be overstating it, but on the other hand, by 2013 the ratio might have dropped back to 1984 levels. In any event, the real increase in the ratio happened about two decades ago, and is not a recent occurrence.

Also, the 2010 ratio (1.58) is below the 1984-2010 average (1.62). So why the alarm now, instead of 20 years ago when the ratio was rising? If there was data further back we might have a better idea of the long-term average levels -- 1984 may have been anomalously low, and the current ratio could be well within historical norms.

Finally, a rising older-to-younger income ratio is not necessarily a bad thing. It might be if younger incomes were falling while older ones were rising (as happened in the late 80's and early 90's), but if they are all rising, faster-rising older incomes mean that the prospects for younger earners' future earnings are better, which to me is a good thing -- it just indicates a higher value on experience.
 
Donna Arsenault -  September 25, 2014
Excellent paper. The report provides insight on the gap between the baby boomers and the upcoming workforce. Well written and thought provoking. It would have been interesting to also see the gap between the missing age range 35-50.
 
Matthew Haley -  September 25, 2014
 
Chol Yong -  September 25, 2014
 
Christian Botelho -  September 23, 2014
 
Murad Hemmadi (use 3143004) -  September 23, 2014
 
Alana McDonald -  September 23, 2014
 
Shaun McDonough -  September 23, 2014
Another excellent analysis. This report provides invaluable insight into the saying "30 is the new 20". As the younger generation has not yet learned the value and importance of investing, how much of this report can help explain the sluggish economic growth witnessed in the western hemisphere? If the older generation (having lived through the Great Recession) are protecting their nest egg, and the younger generation simply does not have the disposable income to spend- what sort of economic growth could we be looking at?

Fascinating study. Keep of the great work!  
 
Patrick Vert -  September 23, 2014
 
Holly Richter -  September 23, 2014
On the heels of the income inequality report by the Broadbent Institute and the rebuke by the Fraser Institute. Great timing CBoC!
Many more questions left unanswered for others to research, and no doubt major policy implications.  
 
Amy Lang -  September 23, 2014