The Business & Community Newsletter – November 2015

Study: Academic outcomes of public and private high school students: What lies behind the differences?

There is considerable interest in the differences in academic outcomes of children who attend private and public schools, and particularly in the factors underlying these differences. For instance, if academic outcomes are indeed better among students from private schools, to what extent is this attributable to the characteristics of students and their families or to schools themselves?

In Canada, about 6% of 15-year-olds attend a private school, defined as a school under the control of a private entity. Governments may subsidize some of the costs, but in general, parents must pay more to send their children to a private school.

Released in March 2015, the study: Academic outcomes of public and private high school students: What lies behind the differences? examines the roles played by student characteristics, school resources and practices, peer effects, and province fixed effects in accounting for differences in the academic outcomes of private and public high school students. Private high school students score significantly higher than public high school students on reading, mathematics, and science assessments at age 15, and have higher levels of educational attainment by age 23.

Survey of Approaches to Educational Planning, 2013

Survey of Approaches to Educational Planning results highlighted the importance played by parental education and postsecondary education expectations in saving behaviours, as well as the role of the child's academic performance.

Among children whose parents had a high school diploma or less, 52% had savings set aside for their education. This proportion increased to 66% among children whose parents had a trade certificate or college diploma and 78% among children whose parents had a university degree.

Among children whose parents hoped they would go into the trades or to college, 53% already had savings set aside at the time of the survey. This compares with 71% among children whose parents hoped they would attend university.

About 78% of children with grades above 90% had parents who were currently saving. This proportion was much lower (53%) for children with grades between 60% and 70%.For more details, refer to CANSIM Tables 477-0074, 477-0075 and 477-0076.

University tuition fees

Data on university tuition fees for 2015-2016 were released on September 9. Here are some highlights from last year.

• Canadian undergraduates in dentistry, medicine and pharmacy paid the highest average tuition fees.
• Tuition fee increases were lower for Canadian graduate students than undergraduates.
• Masters of business administration remained the most expensive graduate programs, followed by dentistry.
• Nationally, average tuition fees for international undergraduate students rose 5.3% to $20,447 in 2014-2015, following a 6.8% increase in 2013-2014.

Education Indicators in Canada: Report of the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program

The Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP) provides a statistical portrait of the elementary, secondary and postsecondary education systems through the following products:

Tables - These tables update or add to those published in previous issues of Education Indicators in Canada: Report of the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program.

Fact sheets – The Education Indicators in Canada: Fact Sheets series provides an "at-a-glance" overview of particular aspects of education in Canada and summarizes key data trends in selected tables.

Education Indicators in Canada: An International Perspective – This annual report combines international statistics from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with comparable provincial and territorial figures. The first report was published in September 2009.

Handbook – Education Indicators in Canada: Handbook for the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Programprovides brief, general descriptions of the data sources and methodology behind the indicators.

Further postsecondary education and labour market outcomes, March 2014

Data for Further postsecondary education and labour market outcomes were derived from four questions that were added to the March 2014 Labour Force Survey (LFS). These were questions on the field of study of a respondent's highest education, and the completion of any further education after the attainment of their highest level of education which highlighted some of the following results:

• In March 2014, nearly one in four people aged 15 and over with a university degree reported having gone back to school and completed another certificate, diploma or university degree of equal or lower level.
• In terms of wages, 70% of employees with university degrees who completed another postsecondary program earned $800 or more per week, compared with 67% for those who did not.
• The proportion of women who completed another postsecondary program after obtaining their university degree was slightly higher than for men (25% versus 22%).

Study: Differences in the location of study of university educated immigrants, 2011

In 2011, three-quarters of immigrants aged 25 to 64 with a university degree obtained their highest degree outside of Canada, while one-quarter earned their highest degree in Canada.

Of the nearly 750,000 university-educated immigrants who arrived in Canada in 2000 or later, 108,000 came from China, the largest source country of university-educated immigrants during this time.

The location of study profile of immigrants who arrived in 2000 or later were also split along linguistic lines. Among those who did not have English or French as their mother tongue—representing about 8 in 10 immigrants who arrived in the 2000s—84% had a degree from outside Canada while 16% had a Canadian degree.

To read more about these findings, refer to "Differences in the location of study of university-educated immigrants."

Study: Labour market outcomes of young postsecondary graduates during the last recession, Late 2000s

Using linked data from the 2006 Census, the 2011 National Household Survey, and tax data from 2005 to 2012, the Study: Labour market outcomes of young postsecondary graduates during the last recession examined Canadian-born 25- to-34-year-old men and women with a high school diploma, college certificate or bachelor's degree. Annual wages and salaries as well as full-year, full-time employment rates were compared before and after the recession of 2008 and 2009.

Overall, average annual wages and salaries of young male bachelor's degree graduates rose 5%, from $65,388 in 2005 to $68,563 in 2012. Over the same period, earnings of young male college graduates grew 7% (from $52,076 to $55,753), while earnings of young female bachelor's degree graduates increased 9% (from $46,543 to $50,506).

Accessing education data

As always, a quick way to get to what you are looking for is via the home page of Statistics Canada's website. On this page, scroll down to Browse by subject and select the Education, training, learning link. From the Education, Training and learning page you can select specific subtopics such as Education finance, Educational attainment and Literacy, etc. Take a closer look at some of the latest products.

Job Vacancy and Wage Survey, first quarter 2015

The Job Vacancy and Wage Survey (JVWS) is a new quarterly survey that provides comprehensive information on job vacancies by industry sector, detailed occupations and skill level required for Canada, the provinces, territories and economic regions. With its broader scope and greater detail, the JVWS is Statistics Canada's foremost source of current and comprehensive information on job vacancies in Canada.

In general, Western Canada had higher job vacancy rates than did Central and Eastern Canada. Yukon (3.9%), Alberta (3.5%), and British Columbia (3.3%) had the highest job vacancy rates, while New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island (both at 1.7%) had the lowest rates for the first quarter.

In line with the size of its labour market, Ontario had the largest number of job vacancies with 153,000 in the first quarter, followed by Alberta with 74,000. While Alberta accounted for 13.5% of national payroll employment, it had 18.4% of all job vacancies in Canada.

To ensure the most complete results, if you have been selected for this survey, it is very important that you answer the survey questions. Without your co-operation, Statistics Canada could not produce reliable, essential data. To learn more, please visit the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey  page on the Information for Survey Participants module.