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July 10, 2019FAMILY INCOME MOBILITY OF CANADIAN TAXFILERS, 1982 TO 2016 Statistics Canada has released data tables containing income mobility statistics for Canadian taxfilers' individual and family incomes. The tables are based on the 1982-to-2016 Longitudinal Administrative Databank (LAD) for Canada, the provinces, and select census metropolitan areas. All figures have been adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index.
Since 1982, there has been a higher proportion of Nova Scotian taxfilers that have seen their after-tax family incomes rise compared to those who have seen their incomes fall, with the exception of a few years between 1988 and 1998. However, periods where the share of taxfilers with falling income has risen coincide with recessionary periods, including a period in the early 1990s and after the 2008 financial crisis. Patterns are similar for both men and women.
Income mobility has been reduced in Nova Scotia, as well as nationally, largely due to declining upward mobility. Between 1982 and 1995, close to 44 per cent of taxfilers moved into a higher family income decile. This share has steadily declined since the period 1989 to 1994, when the share of taxfilers moving into a lower family income decile or staying in the same decile began to rise. In the period 2011 to 2016, roughly a third of taxfilers moved into a higher family income decile, while similar shares of taxfilers that moved to a lower decile or stayed in the same decile.
Rising immobility (staying in the same income decile) has occurred in every income decile except the top decile in Nova Scotia. Rising immobility is particularly prominent for taxfilers in the lowest income deciles, both nationally and in Nova Scotia. In Nova Scotia, around 25 per cent of taxfilers in the second decile experienced immobility in the 1980s and early 1990s. This share rose to 46.2 per cent in the period 2011 to 2016.
Those aged 65 and over were the most likley to remain in the same income decile over the period 1982 to 2016. Immobility has increased for every age group since the 1980s, but it has increased the fastest for those aged 65 and over. This was also true at the national level.
Compared to the Canadian born population, immigrants have been more likely to experience rising incomes since 1982 and less likely to experience falling incomes in Nova Scotia. Over time, the population shares have followed similar patterns, with both the immigrant and Canadian-born shares of taxfilers experiencing rising immobility over time.
Immobility has risen across the country since the 1980s, with a higher share of taxfilers remaining in the same income decile in 2016 compared to 1987. This is primarily due to an erosion in upward mobility.
The share of taxfilers who moved to a higher decile in 2011-2016 was lower compared to the period 1982-1987 in every province except for Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. From 2011 to 2016, Nova Scotia had the lowest share of taxfilers who moved to a higher income decile, while British Columbia had the highest share.
The share of taxfilers moving to a lower income decile was higher in 2011-2016 compared to 1982-1987 for all provinces except the prairies and British Columbia, where it was lower. Alberta had the highest share of taxfilers who moved to a lower income decile from 2011 to 2016, while the lowest share was in Ontario.
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