It’s common to hear that through good times and bad, the rich get ever richer. And there is truth in that. Between 1998 and 2010, despite a major recession, the wealthiest fifth of Canadians saw their incomes increase by 18 per cent. (The income figures here and below are from Statistics Canada, with inflation removed to equalize purchasing power.)
This trend has sparked both condemnation and demands for a more equitable distribution of wealth.
What has happened to the middle class, however, particularly in B.C., gets less attention. And yet the long-term results are devastating.
Throughout our province, working families have taken a hammering. In the 35 years between 1976 and 2011, the median income of households in B.C. declined by 10 per cent. (Median income is the point where equal numbers of earners lie on either side.)
And the retreat becomes a rout if we look only at men’s wages. Over that same period, the median wage of men fell by a full third.
Those are brutal numbers. Basically, middle-class families in B.C. have toiled more than half their working lives to end up poorer than they started.
It wasn’t lack of effort. On average, British Columbians put in 10 per cent more hours today than in 1976.
It wasn’t lack of output. Workers in our province are far more productive than they were even a decade ago.
So where is the problem? Part of it is the decline in our forest sector. The value of lumber exports has plummeted in recent years.
Part of it is the ongoing transition in developed economies toward white-collar employment. Three decades ago, work in a lumber mill paid well.
Today, the big money is either in technology or one of the professions. That is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it means good incomes are still achievable.
In days gone by, wealth tended to be passed down within families. To prosper, you needed affluent parents.
Now, anyone with a university training or a trade certificate in one of the technology-based fields has an opportunity to get ahead.
But the reverse is also true. It has become far more difficult to earn a decent living without such qualifications.
There are exceptions. Work in the oilfields pays well. It’s no accident that median incomes in Alberta increased 25 per cent while B.C.’s were collapsing. But as a rule, B.C.’s middle class is in trouble.
The question is, what are we going to do about it? A vital first step is to recognize the problem. Have any of our political parties a strategy for dealing with this challenge? If so, it’s a well-kept secret.
And the solution has to be practical. No provincial government can reshape the global economy. Blue-collar jobs will continue their migration to countries with lower wage rates.
What we can do is make post-secondary training more available. Tuition fees for a four-year university degree cost north of $20,000. Many working-class families can’t afford that.
So why not give them a break? Some European countries offer bursaries to kids from low-income families. Why don’t we do that?
At any time, about 90,000 students are enrolled in full-time undergraduate degree programs. A further 33,000 pursue apprenticeships, where the fees are lower.
It might cost about $100 million to pay the tuition costs of poorer students. Double that, and it’s still just a tenth of the provincial budget for post-secondary education.
Targeting the rich salves left-wing consciences. Promising non-existent jobs satisfies the right.
We need some meaningful action, while there is still a middle class to save.
