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BREAKING NEWS: Young Canadians Are The Poorest Ever

Written by Chris D’Alessandro

This blows.

You’ve probably heard your well-read anarchist friend drunkly sound off at some point that millennials, despite being insanely educated, earn less than their parents did at their age. Well, turns out the co-op grocery buying couch surfers are right.

According to a new report from Oxfam:

Youth unemployment spiked during the recession and remains double the overall unemployment rate. About one-third of young Canadians work in part-time jobs, many of which are low paying and temporary. 58  Furthermore, 27.7 percent of Canadians aged 15–24 were underemployed in 2014.59  Since the financial crisis, more university graduates, and women in particular, have been employed in jobs that require high-school-level skills or less.

Young Canadians have also been earning less. Today’s 25–34-year-old working full time makes $4,200 less per year than youth did three decades ago, adjusted for inflation. The earnings gap between age cohorts has also grown: in 1980, Canadians aged 25–34 earned 47 percent less than 50– 54-year-olds; now they earn 64 percent less.60

Some other highlights from the report:

  • The cost of undergraduate tuition has more than tripled since 1995.
  • Tuition fees now take a much larger percentage of income from visible minorities — approximately 11 percent of the average annual incomes of white males, but 15 percent of male visible minorities and 21 percent of female visible minorities.
  • According to the Canadian Federation of Students, today’s students are the most indebted generation in Canadian history. The average student graduates with over $28,000 of debt.
  • Nearly nine out of ten students with children must go into debt to complete higher education.
  • The interest charges on student loans disproportionately affect the poor, since they often pay 40 percent more for their education than those who can pay out of pocket.

 

Leave us a comment below. Let us know your thoughts on the new Oxfam report.

*Opinions expressed are those of the author, and not necessarily those of Student Life Network or their partners.