Sask. ‘one-percenters’ see income fall

Similar trend across the country

REGINA — While few are likely to shed a tear for them, the top one per cent of income earners in Saskatchewan saw their share of total income earned in the province shrink to 6.6 per cent in 2012 from 8.1 per cent in 2008, according to data released by Statistics Canada earlier this week.

Not only that, but the 5,400 to 6,000 or so “one-percenters” in the province saw their average income decline to $390,400 in 2012 from $446,400 in 2008, the federal agency said.

However, the top five per cent of income earners have increased their share of provincial income, albeit slightly, to 21.8 per cent in 2012 from 20.4 per cent in 2008. But the “five-percenters” average income actually decreased to $174,700 in 2012 from $180,100 in 2008, while the number of taxfilers in the top five per cent increased from 33,335 to 44,320.

Similarly, the top 10 per cent of income earners in the province saw their share of the income pie increase from 31.8 per cent in 2008 to 34.5 per cent in 2012. But the “ten-percenters” only saw a modest increase in their average income (to $135,300 in 2012 from $132,000 in 2008), as the number of taxfilers in the top 10 per cent income bracket increased to 90,810 in 2012 from 70,995 in 2008.

“Saskatchewan’s top one per cent followed the national trend, with their share of provincial income in 2012 dipping below its 2006-2011 level,’’ said United Steelworkers economist Erin Weir.

“While income inequality has abated slightly across Canada, it appears to be getting worse in Saskatchewan,” Weir added in a commentary. “These Statistics Canada figures indicate that an increasing share of provincial income is concentrated in relatively few hands.”

Like Saskatchewan’s onepercenters, the nation’s biggest income earners lost ground to the other 99 per cent, as the top one per cent saw their share of the country’s overall income tumble to 10.3 per cent in 2012, a drop from a peak of 12.1 per cent six years earlier.

The agency found the sixyear period was also the first “prolonged” stretch in 30 years that saw the income shares of earners in the lower levels — the bottom 90, 95 and 99 per cent — stabilize or climb.

To qualify for the exclusive club, the report said an individual had to earn a minimum of $215,700 in 2012, a feat achieved by 261,365 people who filed taxes that year. The Statistics Canada data also found women represented 21.3 per cent of the ranks of Canada’s one percenters in 2012 — nearly double their proportion of 11.4 per cent in 1982.