Graduating P.H.D. and Masters students head towards Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto on Friday, June 15, 2012.
New evidence shows education is one of the better buffers in a recession.
Turns out, the big tumble in Canadian employment during the 2008-2009 economic downturn reflected mostly net losses among people with less than a high school diploma.
In those two years, the number of workers without a high school diploma fell 10.2 per cent, a Statistics Canada paper shows.
Among those with high school or some non-completed postsecondary education as their highest level of education, net employment fell 3.6 per cent.
By contrast, people with postsecondary education saw stable employment. (This group refers to those with trade certificates, college and CEGEP diplomas, university certificates below a bachelor's degree, and a bachelor's degree or higher).
It's also harder to bounce back without an education.
By last year, employment levels for those with less than high school were 14.5 per cent lower than in 2008.
"The labour market outcomes of these individuals with the lowest levels of education have remained poor even in the economic recovery despite a continued decline in the population with less than a high school diploma," the study said.
Employment levels among those with high school, but no further postsecondary credentials, had also not recovered from the recession-era losses incurred by 2011.
But among people with a trade, college or university certificate, employment levels rose 5.1 per cent between 2008 and 2011.
By last year, employment had risen the fastest – in percentage terms – for people who had a bachelor's degree or higher (though, as the analysis shows, the population in this category rose even faster, which meant the employment rate for this group fell).
Meantime, a separate Statscan study last week on wages showed those with higher education tend to see higher earnings.
The pay gap between those with higher education and those without has narrowed in the past decade, however.
Average weekly wages among men with bachelor degrees were 37 per cent higher than those of male high school grads last year – down from 43 per cent in 2000.
The corresponding difference among women was 55 per cent in 2011, from 62 per cent in 2000.
As for wages as a whole, the analysis found average real wage rates of Canadian workers were little changed in the 1980s and 1990s, before rising at a faster pace in the 2000s. Over all, average hourly wages of full-time workers grew 14 per cent from 1981 to 2011.
Tavia Grant