Census shows high rate of undergraduate and college education among Canadians, but complex trends lie behind it

Greater than half of Canada’s working-age inhabitants has graduated from both college or school, the very best proportion within the G7 industrialized international locations, in line with the newest knowledge from the 2021 census.

The share of post-secondary graduates within the working-age group – 25 to 64 – has now reached 57.5 per cent, extending Canada’s lead in a class it has topped since 2006. That determine is hailed as a constructive financial and social indicator, as research have proven that increased ranges of training are typically correlated with increased incomes and higher well being.

However a extra complicated image emerges within the different particulars revealed within the census rely: Males proceed to complete college at a charge far decrease than ladies, the hole in Indigenous college completion charges continues to develop and Canada trails its peer nations considerably within the share of inhabitants that has accomplished graduate research.

Practically 33 per cent of Canadians of working age had a university bachelor’s diploma or increased in 2021. That marked a bounce of 4.3 proportion factors for the reason that 2016 census. About half of that enhance was on account of immigration, as about 60 per cent of latest immigrants arrived with a college diploma.

Britain (41.3 per cent), america (39.5 per cent) and Japan (34.2 per cent) all have a higher share of inhabitants with a college bachelor’s diploma. Canada’s enchancment was partly on account of youthful residents selecting college in higher numbers. However it was additionally partly a demographic have an effect on, as youthful generations enter the 25-to-64 class, whereas older ones with much less formal training exit.

Csernyik: Canada’s overly educated work force is nothing to be proud of

Canada’s efficiency on postsecondary-education metrics additionally owes rather a lot to the nation’s school sector. 1 / 4 of Canadians (24.6 per cent) have a university diploma or certificates, normally from a two-year program. That’s the very best charge within the G7 and compares favourably with the U.S., the place the share of the inhabitants with an equal credential is about 10 per cent.

Pamela Finest, assistant director at Statistics Canada, stated one of many key causes the nation scores so extremely on this metric is the CEGEP system in Quebec, which educates a a lot bigger share of its pupil inhabitants than different provincial school programs.

Canada additionally had a decrease share of inhabitants with a graduate diploma, at simply 9.3 per cent, in contrast with a spread of 13 to fifteen per cent elsewhere within the G7. Just a little greater than 1 per cent of Canadians have a doctorate, and eight.2 per cent a grasp’s diploma.

Ken Coates, a professor within the college of public coverage on the College of Saskatchewan, stated Canada has traditionally not produced as many graduate diploma holders within the training area because the U.S. partly on account of incentives provided within the latter nation. He additionally stated there was a narrower expertise pipeline to graduate college within the sciences, however that that’s beginning to change.

There additionally continues to be a big hole between women and men in academic attainment. Within the age group of 25 to 34, almost 40 per cent of Canadian-born ladies have a bachelor’s diploma or increased, in contrast with just a little greater than 25 per cent of Canadian-born males. The pattern dates again greater than 30 years in the past to the early Nineties, when ladies first surpassed males in diploma attainment, in line with Statistics Canada.

The speed of development in males’s college training charges picked up considerably on this census interval. It grew almost as a lot within the final 5 years because it had within the decade from 2006 to 2016. However at 2.2 proportion factors, it nonetheless trailed the three.3 proportion level development charge amongst ladies.

The information additionally present it’s turning into extra frequent for college students who’ve graduated college to attend school after acquiring their diploma. Schools supply brief, career-oriented applications that will add vocational {qualifications} to a college credential. In Ontario and B.C., near 1 / 4 of faculty college students already had a bachelor’s diploma within the 2020-21 college yr.

“Society is privileging college training over all types of coaching and training. Many college graduates return to get a university or polytechnic diploma to develop into employable. Many shouldn’t have gone to school within the first place,” Prof. Coates stated. “That is turning into a dominant theme in Canadian postsecondary training.”

The post-university school route is much more frequent amongst worldwide college students, who pay decrease tuition at school (typically about $16,000 in Ontario in contrast with greater than $30,000 at college). Greater than 36 per cent of worldwide college students at Canadian faculties have a bachelor’s diploma already. Having Canadian training and work expertise are vital benefits for the rising share of worldwide college students trying to keep within the nation as everlasting residents.

The census confirmed some positive aspects in Indigenous training. In 2021, almost 13 per cent of Indigenous folks of working age in Canada had college levels, up from 10.9 per cent in 2016 and seven.7 per cent in 2006. The rise is due partly to enhancements in high-school completion charges amongst First Nations, Metis and Inuit.

Nonetheless, college completion charges amongst Indigenous individuals are not rising as rapidly as among the many non-Indigenous inhabitants, in order that hole continues to widen, Ms. Finest stated. Within the 2021 census, the variety of Canadian-born non-Indigenous diploma holders grew by 2.9 per cent, in contrast with 1.9 per cent amongst Indigenous folks.