The National Household Survey released this week provides an intriguing look into the ranks of the country's top income earners.
For one thing, it shows that while Canada may increasingly be a nation that celebrates its diversity, the rich are not terribly reflective of that.
In broad strokes, we know that the top one per cent tend to be middle-aged men who are married and live in a big city — much like it was 50 years ago. They also tend to have a university degree and work in the areas you'd expect — medicine, dentistry, law, engineering, business and finance, and management.
Despite the homogeneity of this group, it is true that some of the one-percenters are outliers — they don't share the usual characteristics that tend to define membership in this group. Some don't even work at all. But they are a definite minority.
So who are these people? Statistics Canada sent their National Household Survey to 4.5 million Canadian households — about one-third of all households. The findings are detailed enough to shine light on this exclusive club and often reveal surprising truths about who belongs to this elite group.
First, a look at the entry requirements. About 27.3 million Canadians were aged 15 and over in 2010. The vast majority of them (95%) had some form of income. The top 1% reported quite a bit of income.
According to the 2011 survey, there were 272,600 Canadians who had incomes of at least $191,100 in 2010. That hefty number was the cutoff to make it into the top one per cent of Canadian income earners.
That $191,100 is just the minimum to squeak into the 1% club. Most of the people in that category earned much more. The average income among the top 1% was twice that — $381,300.
To put this level of income into perspective, that’s almost 10 times the average Canadian income of $38,700. Since the median income of all Canadians — the point at which half earn less and half earn more — is a much smaller $27,600, that suggests that there are a few super-rich who are dramatically pulling up the average.
The National Household Survey does not publish figures on the top 0.1% of income earners. But previous work by Statistics Canada does reveal the income levels needed to enter the lofty ranks of the super-rich. In 2010, Statistics Canada said it took a minimum income of $685,000 to be a member of the top 0.1% club.
Interested in what it takes to get into the top 0.01%? The 2,550 tax filers in this group in 2010 had a minimum income of $2.57 million and an average income of $5.11 million.
One survey of CEO compensation provided some further insight into the earning power of that group. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives said the average compensation package among the top 100 Canadian CEOs came to $7.7 million in 2011. Magna International's Frank Stronach topped the list with a pay packet totaling almost $41 million.
The top 1% of income earners are overwhelmingly male: almost four of every five members of the group. This will come as no surprise to those who've noticed the overwhelming dominance of men on many corporate boards and in senior management roles.
Previous research by Statistics Canada has suggested that the dominance of men in the high-income slot has slipped in the past few decades. For instance, the agency said women made up only 11% of the one percenters in 1982, while the National Household Survey suggested that the figure was 20.5% in 2010. Still a minority, but a hint of progress nonetheless.
One percenters also tend not to be lone wolves. Almost 84% are married or living in a common-law relationship.
The typical one percenter is also middle-aged, with more than three in every five between the ages of 45 and 64. But 4.4% of this group managed to be big income earners despite being under age 35.
Previous research from Statistics Canada has also shown that the overwhelming majority (90% in 2010) of those in the top 1% income group are white.
