Middle- class dreams ‘ a myth more than a reality,’ says internal report prepared for government
OTTAWA — Canada’s middleclass is mortgaging its future to stay afloat, making the Canadian dream “a myth more than a reality.”
That’s the blunt assessment of an internal Conservative government report, an unvarnished account of the plight of middle- income families that’s in contrast to the rosier economic picture in this month’s budget.
The document was prepared last October by experts in Employment and Social Development Canada, the department that runs the employment insurance fund and other income- support programs. The Canadian Press obtained the report under the Access to Information Act.
“The wages of middle income workers have stagnated,” it says, referring to the period 1993 to 2007. “Middle- income families are increasingly vulnerable to financial shocks.”
The document, drawing on three years of “internal research,” was prepared for the department’s deputy minister, Ian Shugart, before the resumption of Parliament last fall.
The authors say middleincome families have seen their earnings rise by an average of only 1.7 per cent a year over the 15 years ending 2007.
“The market does not reward middle- income families so well,” says the report. “As a result, they get an increasingly smaller share of the earning’s pie” compared with higherincome families.
Shugart was also told middleclass workers “get lesser government support for their work transitions,” referring to a sharp fall- off in employmentinsurance benefits compared with other economic groups.
The analysis stops short of the 2008 global recession, though other analysts have noted the economic crisis wiped out many well- paid manufacturing jobs in central Canada that have supported middle- class prosperity.
The report also refers to debt, saying “many in the middle spend more than they earn, mortgaging their future to sustain their current consumption.”
“Over the medium term, middle- income Canadians are unlikely to move to higher income brackets, i. e., the ‘ Canadian dream’ is a myth more than a reality.”