The top half of Alberta families receive 87% of the province's income. That, of course, means the bottom half share just 13% of the pie. And that is said to be the most unequal distribution in Canada.
A report issued by the Alberta College of Social Workers and the University of Alberta's Parkland Institute found:
- 87 per cent of earnings in the province goes to the top half of families.
- The top 10 per cent of Alberta families get 28 per cent of after-tax income, while the bottom 10 per cent of families get only 1.7 per cent;
- The top one per cent of Alberta earners have an average income of $675,200 compared to an average of $353,100 for the top one per cent nationally.
- The median income in Alberta in 2009 was $68,100, while the median income among Alberta CEOs was just under $2.5 million.
- Albertans consistently work longer hours, with less time off and holidays, than almost anyone else in the developed world.
The flat provincial income tax certainly doesn't help. Alberta is really becomming a textbook resource curse state.
ReplyDeleteThe truly wealthy people in Alberta are the people working for big oil or who have a business related to oil. The rest of us try to make ends meet. The minimum wage here is $9.40 an hour and who the hell can live on that? The people who are really hitting the wall are the retired people over the age of 70 who did not have the opportunity of taking advantage of RRSP's...they have to use the food bank which by the way can only be used once in a month....their bank accounts are checked to see how many times they have gone to Tim Hortons in a month...how about that? Isn't it wonderful?
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