Region’s Youth More Educated, But Paid Less and Have Fewer Opportunities Here
HALIFAX – Young adults in Atlantic Canada are more educated than people their age 25 years ago, but they’re paid less than their peers in other parts of Canada, according to a report on 2016 numbers by the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council.
According to the report, more than 70 percent of Atlantic youth, aged 25-29, have a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree, compared to one-half in 1990. In New Brunswick, the figure is 71.3 percent versus 72.8 percent in Canada.
More than 30 percent of Atlantic Canadians in this age category have a university degree, more than double the number in 1990.
Fred Bergman, APEC’s Senior Policy Analyst, said Atlantic Canadians were as educated as their peers across the country.
“In terms of educational attainment, Atlantic youth compare favourably with the rest of Canada,” said Bergman in a release. “Nova Scotia youth between 25 and 29 years of age have the highest proportion of graduate degrees in the country at 11.6 percent, while Prince Edward Island ranks third at 9.7 percent, just behind Ontario.”
Only six percent of New Brunswick’s young people in this age group had graduate degrees verses the national average of 8.5 percent.
Though they are more educated than youth 25 years ago, the region’s young people are underemployed relative to their peers in the rest of the country, and they’re also paid less on average.
Three out of four Atlantic Canadians (76 percent) are employed, compared with 79 percent in the rest of the country. In New Brunswick, the number is 75.8 percent.
The average hourly earnings for young workers are $20.49 an hour in the Maritimes, much less than the $23.55 national rate. Newfoundland was the only Atlantic Canadian province ($23.31) that had a rate close to the national average. In New Brunswick, the average hourly rate was $20.47.
Bergman said these factors – the employment rate and lower hour pay-rate – contributed to a net out-migration of 3,750 (1.3 percent of the region’s youth population) in 2015 and 2016.
“Those who leave earn more than those who stay,” said Bergman. “According to a recent Statistics Canada study, one year after graduation, males with an undergraduate degree who left the Maritimes earned 24 percent more than their peers who stayed. The difference was 10 percent or less for females and those with a graduate degree.”
Bergman said the four Atlantic provinces could try to retain more of the 13,400 international university students in the region as one way of offsetting the out-migration of domestic students.
He said the provinces could also find better ways of connecting the region’s youth to employers who must offer competitive opportunities for a demanding and mobile demographic.
The Report Card also found not all Atlantic youth are well-placed to succeed. There were more than 27,000 in the 25-29 age group last year described as NEET — neither employed nor in education or training. The four Atlantic provinces have the highest NEET rates in Canada.
“Reducing the number of youth that fail to complete high school or are otherwise disengaged is important both for their welfare as well as for employers facing a shrinking labour force,” said Bergman.