The Evolution of Income Mobility in Canada

In the first period, half of the population possess all of the income of the economy; but in the second period, the other half takes their turn possessing all the income. [...] The third element from the left in the third row, 36.3%, shows the proportion of taxfilers from the third decile in the 2007 distribution who stayed in the same decile in 2012. [...] The answer is that the drop in upward mobility was the main factor behind the declining total relative mobility from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s; however, during the last 15 years, the decline in downward mobility has contributed more. [...] The decline in total relative mobility in the 1990s was mainly the result of a drop in the upward mobility, while the declining downward mobility seemed to be the main factor for the continuing drop in total relative mobility since the 2002-to-2007 period. [...] This means that, for taxfilers from the top decile, the total mobility is equal to the total downward mobility and that, for taxfilers from the bottom decile, the total mobility is equal to the total upward mobility.