University of Windsor campus, January 29, 2016. (Photo by Maureen Revait) University of Windsor campus, January 29, 2016. (Photo by Maureen Revait)
Windsor

Canadians Have More Education And Are Working Longer

More than half of Canada's population has more than a high school diploma, and Canadians are working longer.

That's what the latest data from the 2016 Census tells us.

According to the 2016 Census, more than half of Canadians, 54%, aged 25-64, had either college or university qualifications. That is up from 48% in 2006.

The census also finds that young graduates in the the health, engineering, or computer science fields are most likely to find work in their field and have a higher rate of pay.

The overall employment rate in Canada fell from 62.6% to 60.2%. However, there are now more people working past the age of 65. In 2015, nearly 6% of seniors worked full time, while one in five worked at some point throughout the year. That's the highest number since 1981 when this data was first tracked.

There are also fewer people aged 15-24 in the workforce. In 2006, 57.2% of young people were employed but in 2016 that number was 51.9%.

The industry that employs the most people is the health and social assistance field. Around 12.1% of all workers, or around 2-million people, work in the health industry.

The retail industry employs the second most number of workers while the manufacturing sector fell to the number three spot. It employed the most people in 2006. The manufacturing sector had 385,000 fewer people employed in 2016 compared to 2006.

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