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Greater inequality raises economic, political and ethical challenges as it risks leaving a growing number of people behind in an ever-changing economy

the top federal marginal income tax rates tumbled – to 29 per cent in 2010 from 43 per cent in 1981

Canada’s growing gap: a widening disparity in labour earnings between high- and low-paid workers, and less redistribution.

Taxes and benefits reduce inequality less in Canada than in most OECD countries

Shifts in the labour market are a key reason why the gap is widening

Technological progress has been more beneficial to high-skilled workers, while the gap in men’s earnings in particular is growing ever wider

annual hours of low-wage workers in Canada have fallen to 1,100 hours from 1,300 hours, while those of higher-wage workers fell by less, to 2,100 from 2,200 hours

Rising self-employment

the self-employed typically earn less than other full-time workers

Taxation

Canada’s tax-benefit system was as effective as those of the Nordic countries in stabilizing equality, offsetting more than 70 per cent of the rise of market-income inequality

taxes and benefits now offset less than 40 per cent of the rise in inequality

inequality has been rising more rapidly in Canada than in the U.S.

social implications

income inequality with poor health outcomes

11-year difference in life expectancy between men who live in its poorest neighbourhood and those its richest

Taxing the rich

closing loopholes

compliance with tax rules

education, skills training and job retraining programs

More and better jobs, enabling people to escape poverty and offering real career prospects, is the most important challenge

At the same time, employers from Newfoundland and Labrador to the Prairies say shortages are constraining their ability to grow, innovate and compete.

Structural shifts in the labour market mean “workers in declining industries may not have the skills or experience to match immediately the needs of employers in expanding industries,”

Unemployment is high, even as the number of job vacancies continues to rise

That means more-efficient partnerships between employers and universities and colleges,

“The lack of young people pursuing further education in engineering and science and technology, is definitely a strain on our ability to grow,”

Last month it called on the federal and provincial governments to work with employers to find strategies to overcome expected shortfalls.

It says improving skills and workplace training should become a national priority, and recommended more companies make a “strategic decision to take a direct role in creating the skilled workforces and talent pipelines they need.”

In Canada, part of the problem is that many people haven’t pursued careers in areas where all the job growth is happening. Mining and energy extraction are, by far, the fastest-growing segments of job growth in Canada over the past year, with employment gains of 5.7 per cent.

Despite the presence of the local universities churning out tech graduates, he estimates there are about 1,900 current vacancies for technical jobs in the Kitchener-Waterloo region “that are unfilled and have been for some time.

the labour market imbalance “is the largest threat to our economy,”

Without that effort, he estimates 1.5 million jobs could go unfilled in 10 years’ time.