The changing returns to education in Canada and its provinces, 1971-2006

In analyzing the Canadian Survey of Consumer Finances supplement to the Labour Force Survey as their data source and pointed out that much of the variability in the results of returns to education had less to do with actually changes in the returns and more to do with inconsistencies in data collection methods (ibid). [...] This confusing relationship between supply and demand and the impact that the equilibrium or disequilibrium between the two can have on the returns to additional education in both the short and long run can complicate the decision to pursue additional education. [...] This is further complicated by the lower differential for university education in Canada versus the U. S. Jensen (2010) discusses a more interesting situation with regard to understanding the supply of skilled labour, the demand for that labour in the economy, and the influence of returns to education. [...] The exception is in the Service industry where those with a BA are nearly one-quarter (22.6%) of the industry’s workforce and comprise over 11% of the Canadian workforce. [...] While the share of the total workforce in the Service industry without a BA has gone from 37% to about 40%, the share in the Service industry with a BA has nearly tripled going from 6% to 17%.