In Canada, a high-school diploma is generally considered to be the minimum level of education required to gain access to a range of opportunities. Most post-secondary programs require entrants to have a high-school diploma and the labour market is relatively inhospitable to highschool dropouts. The good news is that high-school graduation rates have been increasing steadily over the past decade. The bad news is that there is still a significant number of working age adults without a high-school diploma. In this section, we provide a statistical portrait of Canadians who lack a high-school diploma or a post-secondary credential. We show that these individuals (the ‘least-educated’) are at great risk of being ‘left behind’ in a post-industrial, knowledge-based economy, and are likely to face low wages and a higher likelihood of unemployment over the course of their careers.
We first look at how large the least-educated group is, and whether the size of this group is changing over time (section 2.2). Next, we compare the labour market outcomes of the leasteducated and their more-educated counterparts, showing that the least-educated fare significantly worse (section 2.3). Finally, we present evidence suggesting that, in terms of labour market outcomes, the least-educated are likely to fall farther behind their better educated co-workers over the span of their careers (section 2.4).
Table 2.1 shows the percentage of Canadians in their prime working years (25-64) without a high-school diploma or higher credential. The percentage of the working-age population with less than a high-school diploma has declined dramatically, almost falling by half in only twenty years.
| Year | % of working age population without a high-school diploma (or higher credential) |
|---|---|
| 1981 | 45.9 |
| 1986 | 42.4 |
| 1991 | 33.7 |
| 1996 | 28.8 |
| 2001 | 24.7 |
Source: Authors’ calculations from the 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001 census public use master file
This rise in educational attainment is driven primarily by a decline in the high-school dropout rate. Over the past decade, dropping out of high-school became increasing less common in all parts of Canada. According to a recent report by the Canadian Council on Learning (2005), in the 1990-91 school year, the drop out rate was 17 percent. In 2004, only 10 percent of Canadians 20 to 24-years-of-age did not have a high-school diploma and were not enrolled in school.