They say a bachelor’s degree is the new high school diploma, but according to a study released by Statistics Canada, the wage gap between high school and university graduates is narrowing.
The data agency compared average weekly wages for high school grads and those holding a bachelor’s degree in 2000 to 2002, and again in 2010 to 2012.
In that time, wages fell for men aged between 20 and 34 with a bachelor’s degree working in full-time jobs.
Meanwhile, their counterparts with a high school diploma saw their wages rise by roughly nine per cent.
In contrast, wages for women with post-secondary education rose by about five per cent, while women with a high school diploma saw their wages climb by approximately 11 per cent.
“Thus, wage differences between young bachelor’s degree holders and young high school graduates employed in full-time jobs narrowed in recent years,” Statistics Canada said in the study published Monday.
According to the agency, two of the key factors that contributed to narrowing wages are the oil and housing booms of the 2000s, which boosted economic activity, and also increased demand for workers without post-secondary education.
“Since male high school graduates are more often employed in the oil and construction industries than male bachelor’s degree holders, rising world oil prices and the sharp growth in housing demand may have pushed up wages among the former group to a greater extent than among the latter,” said Statistics Canada.
Other reasons for the narrowing gap are increases in minimum wages in most provinces in the 2000s, which may have reduced the education wage premium, and a rise in unionization rates, which “may have reduced the bachelor’s degree-high school wage ration.”
But while individuals with high school diplomas may experience higher wages than their counterparts a decade ago, people with university education still earned more.
Full-time paid employment rates for men with bachelor’s degrees were 7.4 per cent higher than those with high school diplomas in the 2010-2012 period -- up from 4.3 per cent 10 years earlier. And among women, the difference widened from 13.8 to 18.6 percentage points.
