Back to school – September 2007
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Fewer kids, more old people
Readiness to learn
The busy lives of teens
Literacy level at age 15 a good predictor of dropping out of high school by age 19
More young adults returning to the family home
Time spent with family on the decrease
Proportions of women and Asian students in Canadian universities continues to rise
Changing patterns of postsecondary participation
Undergraduate tuition fees continue to rise
Continuing growth in apprenticeship registrations
In most jurisdictions, the student-educator ratio has declined
Average levels of remuneration for educators varies a great deal across the country
Educational attainment and labour market outcomes are closely linked, except in Alberta and Saskatchewan
Education a factor in selecting a mate
Fewer kids, more old people
According to the 2006 Census, the number of people aged 65 and over increased by more than 11.5% compared with 2001, topping the 4 million mark for the first time (4.3 million). In contrast, the under-15 population declined almost 2.5% to 5.6 million between 2001 and 2006. According to the most recent population projections published by Statistics Canada, the number of children aged less than 15 years could be outnumbered by the number of seniors aged 65 and over within about 10 years. The growth of the elderly population has been modest up to now, but will start accelerating in 2011 when the first baby-boomers turn age 65.Chart 1
Number of persons aged 65 years and over and number of children aged less than 15 years in the Canadian population, 1956 to 2016
It is expected that the number of people aged 55 to 64 will continue to grow over the next few years and could represent more than 20% of the working-age population in 2016.
Readiness to learn
Activities in a child's home environment, such as being read to daily, are associated with a child's readiness to learn in school at age 5. Children who are read to daily at home have higher scores on understood vocabulary than those who are not read to.The increase in scores for children in the lowest-income households who are read to daily compared to those who are not is particularly large. Nevertheless, even those in the lowest-income households who are read to daily have scores that match those for children in the second-lowest household income group who are not read to daily and remain substantially lower than for any children in the two highest-household income groups, whether they are read to daily at home or not.
Chart 2
Children's ability to understand spoken vocabulary increases when they are read to daily at home - especially children in the lowest-income households
The busy lives of teens
Compared to teens in nine other countries, Canadian teens ranked first in terms of average hours spent on unpaid and paid labour during the school week. Including school and non-school days, teens did an average of 7.1 hours of unpaid and paid work per day in 2005. This 50-hour work week was virtually the same as that of adult Canadians aged 20 to 64 doing unpaid and paid work.Time spent by teens on unpaid and paid work remained relatively stable between 1986 and 2005, with a small decrease in average number of hours spent doing homework during the week and a small increase in the average number of hours working at a paid job on the weekend.
After school attendance, homework was the most time-consuming unpaid activity for teens, with 60% doing an average of 2 hours and 20 minutes every day. Teens were significantly more likely to do homework and more of it if both parents had a university education, if they lived in a two-parent intact family (where a divorce has not taken place) and if their parents were foreign-born.Boys with Canadian-born parents did significantly less homework than girls in similar families and less than either girls or boys with immigrant parents. Also important, teens with demanding paid jobs (20 hours or more per week) did significantly less homework than those who were not employed.
Chart 3
Teenagers do much more than go to school
Literacy level at age 15 a good predictor of dropping out of high school by age 19
Reading ability at 15 can have an important impact on the status of students in high school by the time they reach age 19. Reading proficiency was rated on the basis of levels one to five, that is, lowest to highest. Students who had dropped out of high school by the age of 19 were performing, on average, more than one full reading-proficiency level below that of high school graduates. A difference of one proficiency level indicates a substantive difference in the nature of reading tasks that students can perform. These students may, in fact, lack the higher order skills for further education.Chart 4
The proportion of students who dropped out of high school by age 19 was highest for those with the weakest reading skills at age 15
More young adults returning to the family home
Canadians with adult children may be familiar with the "boomerang kid" phenomenon, that is, the increasing trend toward young adults returning to live with their parents after having lived away from home for a period of time. The tendency to return home at least once has risen in each generation, starting with the boomers. For example, among early Wave 1 Boomers (born between 1947 and 1951), the probability of returning home within five years of first leaving was less than 12% for men and 10% for women. In contrast, the probability for the later wave of Gen Xers (born between 1972 and 1976) was 32% for men and 28% for women. In other words, for both men and women, the likelihood of coming back home has nearly tripled.The boomerang phenomenon partly reflects the changing reasons for leaving the parental home over recent generations. According to the 2001 General Social Survey, getting married and having a job were the two main reasons why the War/Depression birth cohort left home for the first time. Over time, more young people have been leaving home for the first time in order to go to school and because they want to be independent/move into their own place.
Chart 5
Over the generations, the most common reasons for leaving home have changed
Thus, in part, the growing boomerang phenomenon can be explained by the reasons for leaving in the first place. For many, the reason for returning was education related: either it was the end of the school year (19%) or they had finished their program or quit school (8%). However, another 25% returned the first time for financial reasons and 12% returned because their job had ended. And just over one in ten (11%) came home after a relationship had ended.
See The Daily October 3, 2006.
Time spent with family on the decrease
On average, workers spent 45 minutes less with their family during workdays in 2005 than they did two decades earlier. Based on a 260-day work year, that amounts to 195 hours less or the equivalent of about five 40-hour work weeks.Time spent with family members declined between 1986 and 2005 for most groups of workers. For example, in 1986, women spent an average of 248 minutes with their family members, while in 2005 they spent 209 minutes, a difference of 39 minutes during a typical working day. For men, the average time fell by 45 minutes, from 250 minutes in 1986 to 205 in 2005. The main factor associated with the decline was an appreciable increase in time devoted to paid employment on a typical working day.
Time spent with family by workers with a child less than age five tends to be significantly greater than that of workers living with a spouse but no children. Lone-parent workers with a young child spent the most time with family, about one hour more than workers living with a spouse only. In contrast, lone-parent workers with older children spent the least time with family.See The Daily February 13, 2007.
Proportions of women and Asian students in Canadian universities continues to rise
Enrolment in Canadian universities surpassed the one-million mark for the first time during the 2004/2005 academic year. Women still vastly outnumbered men, with women accounting for 58% of all registrations, compared to 56% in 1994/1995 and 51% in 1984/1985. Foreign students accounted for just over 7.4% of total enrolment in 2004/2005, nearly double the proportion a decade earlier. Asian students accounted for the majority of the increase in foreign students enrolled at Canadian universities. University registrants from China rose 60% to a record high 17,600 students. Canadian universities also continued to register significant numbers of students from India, South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong.See The Daily November 7, 2006.
Changing patterns of postsecondary participation
Data from the Labour Force Survey show that the participation rate at the college level changed little between 1995/1996 and 2005/2006, with the decrease being most notable for 21 year-olds ...Chart 6
Participation rate at the college level, Canada, 1995/1996 and 2005/2006
... whereas the rate of participation in universities is up, especially for 18 to 24 year-olds. Part of the jump in university enrolments among 18 year-olds can be explained by the fact that Ontario dropped the final year of high school (Grade 13) in 2002/2003, meaning that the typical high school student in Ontario now graduates at age 18. However, increases in university participation have also been substantial among older age groups. In 2005/2006, the highest rate of participation in university was for 21 year-olds, at 30%.
Chart 7
Participation rate at the university level, Canada, 1995/1996 and 2005/2006
Undergraduate tuition fees continue to rise
In the 2006/2007 academic year, the highest undergraduate tuition fees were again in Nova Scotia, where average tuition cost undergrads $6,571, a 3.9% increase over the previous year.Undergraduate tuition fees were below the national average in only three provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Manitoba. Quebec undergrads continued to pay the lowest fees in the country as a result of a tuition freeze for Quebec residents that has kept fees at less than half the national average since the late 1990s.
Nationally, tuition fees in 2006/2007 were 21.5% higher than they were in 2001/2002. In British Columbia, fees doubled during this five-year period but declined 14.1% in Newfoundland and Labrador. British Columbia lifted a six-year tuition freeze in 2002/2003, after which there were three years of double-digit increases. However, the rate of increase has slowed over the last two years, with tuition fees rising by 2.8% last year and 1.9% this year.Compared with the 1990/1991 academic year, tuition fees have doubled and in some cases have more than tripled, with the greatest increases in Alberta, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan.
All professional fields have seen large increases in tuition since 2001/2002. Whereas average undergraduate fees increased 21.5%, fees in law, medicine and dentistry have increased by 65.4%, 47.5% and 41.5% respectively.See The Daily September 1, 2006.
Chart 8
Average undergraduate tuititon fees, Canada and provinces, 2006/2007
Continuing growth in apprenticeship registrations
A nationwide construction boom helped push registrations in apprenticeship training programs to a record in 2004, making this the ninth consecutive gain. Apprenticeship registrations were up 6.8% or 16,980 over the previous year.Chart 9
Apprenticeship registrations have surged over the last decade while completions have remained stable
Four fields (building construction trades; metal fabricating trades; electrical, electronics and related trades; and motor vehicle and heavy equipment) accounted for about 80% of total registrations in 2004. Of the 16,980 new apprentices, about 87% came from these top four.
Since 2001, the building construction field has had the highest gains among major trade groups. It became the largest in 2003, reflecting the construction industry's boom since 2001, especially in residential construction.From 1994 to 2004, individuals under the age of 25 increased their share of overall registrations from 26.8% to 33.6%. The 40 and over age group accounted for 17% of registrations, up from 10.2% ten years earlier.
A near-record high of 19,705 individuals completed their registered apprenticeship training in 2004, up by 1,185, or 6.4%, from 2003. More than half of the completers were still in their 20s. The share of completers aged 40 and over almost doubled between 1994 and 2004.See The Daily November 17, 2006.
In most jurisdictions, the student-educator ratio has declined
There were 310,000 full-time equivalent educators in Canadian public schools in 2004/2005. The term "educator" refers not only to teachers, but to all employees in the public school system who are required to have teaching certification as a condition of their employment. This definition generally includes principals, vice-principals and professional non-teaching staff such as education consultants, guidance counsellors and religious and pastoral counsellors. As a result, the student-educator ratio is much smaller than the student-teacher ratio and should not be confused with class size.Between 1998/1999 and 2004/2005, the number of educators increased more than enrolments – or decreased less – in every jurisdiction, except for British Columbia. As a result, the student-educator ratio declined everywhere, except in British Columbia.
At the national level, in 2004/2005, there were 16 students for each educator. This ratio was higher than 17 to one in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. The ratio was less than 15 students for each educator in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Manitoba and the Yukon.Chart 10
Student-educator ratio, 2004/2005
See The Daily. Thursday August, 30 2007.
Average levels of remuneration for educators varies a great deal across the country
In 2004/2005, the average level of remuneration for educators in public elementary and secondary schools in Canada stood at slightly less than $65,000. This average masks a great deal of variation across the provinces and territories, however. By far the highest average level of remuneration was for educators in Nunavut, at close to $107,000, a reflection of the high cost of living there. Average levels of remuneration were also above the Canadian average in the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Ontario and Alberta.The largest percentage increase in educator remuneration between 1998/1999 and 2004/2005 was in Saskatchewan, at 29%. Despite that increase, however, the average level of remuneration for educators in that province remained well below the Canadian average, at $57,000 in 2004/2005. Average levels of remuneration were also below the Canadian average in the four Atlantic Provinces and in Quebec.
Chart 11
Average remuneration per educator, 2004/2005
See The Daily. Thursday August, 30 2007.
Educational attainment and labour market outcomes are closely linked, except in Alberta and Saskatchewan
Unemployment rates are significantly higher for 25 to 29 year-olds with less than high school than they are for university graduates. This is especially the case for residents of Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick where the unemployment rate for high school dropouts was in the 30% range in 2005, compared to essentially nil for university graduates. At the other extreme is Alberta, where the unemployment rate for both high school dropouts and university graduates were very low, at 4% and 3% respectively. Clearly, Alberta's hot economy is driving demand for workers regardless of their education level. In neighbouring Saskatchewan, the unemployment rate was also relatively low for individuals with less than high school and was essentially nil for university graduates.Chart 12
Unemployment rate of 25 to 29 year-olds, selected levels of education,
Canada and provinces, 2005
Education a factor in selecting a mate
In 2001, 24% of wives and 19% of husbands in Canada had university degrees, compared to 4% and 10% in 1971; just over half of couples younger than 35 had the same level of education, up from 42% in 1971. Between 1971 and 2001, average educational attainment rose for both men and women, but much more so for women than for men. As a result, wives now have a higher average educational level than their husbands, while the opposite was true three decades ago.One might expect that rising educational attainment for both sexes would play a role in the increase observed in the percentage of couples who both have university degrees. But increasing educational attainment plays only a small role. Instead, the increase in the percentage of 'like marrying like' in terms of education level mainly reflects the fact that men and women are basing their choice of a mate more and more on level of education. This trend has been a potent force underlying rising inequality in earnings between families at the low and high ends of the income distribution.
See The Daily, Friday May 18, 2007.- Date modified: