In addition, lack of education increases the probability of getting jobs that provide earnings insufficient to live on. Assuming that people work 1750 hours per year, a third of the new full-time jobs started in 1989 by individuals with less than high-school education paid less than Statistics Canada's "low income measure" for one adult in the same year (i.e., below $11,351). Only 13% of the new jobs acquired by people with more than high-school education paid a salary below the low income measure.

Education is also a crucial factor in making a financially rewarding transition from school to work. The CLFDB/ Statistics Canada study indicated that, in general, higher education leads to higher wages. In 1990, people aged 16 to 24 years, who had left school in 1989 with a university degree, earned almost twice the salary of people who had left school in 1989 without a high-school diploma. This trend applied to both men and women: men with a university degree earned, on average, $25,842 annually compared with $13,636 for those without a high-school diploma; women university graduates earned, on average, $19,095 compared with $10,785 for women without a high-school diploma. People with a trades certificate or diploma also fared relatively well.

• Limitations on opportunities: People with less education recognize the hurdle this presents when they look for a new job. Lack of necessary education was pointed out as a major hindrance in 36% of the jobs started by people who reported active job search and had less than high-school education. Such a situation was reported for only 9% of the jobs started by university graduates and 12% of the jobs started by people with a trades certificate or diploma.
  
  
  

The quality of the new jobs

In the CLFDB/Statistics Canada report, the distribution of jobs started with a new employer in 1989-90 was compared with that of jobs held by the study population in September 1989. New jobs were

• more likely to be at the white- and blue-collar level, rather than professional or managerial;
• less likely to be full-time;
• much less likely to be unionized;
• much less likely to be covered by a pension plan;
• more likely to be in firms with fewer than 100 employees; and
• more likely to be at the lower end of the remuneration scale.