xarir said:
My HR person at work quoted a stat that said in corporate Canada, a mere 5% of the workforce earns more than $100K.
What do you guys think? Is it true that only 5% of the corporate folks in Canada earn more than $100K?
what is meant by "corporate" canada? i guess if you think of it, most large corporations tend to be heirarchies, with large amounts of people working at low or medium wages - this is true of banks, retail, manufacturing, most wervice industries, etc.
i think you will find that most of the corporate people in this country who earn more than100k are either:
1. corporate execs.
2. highly educated or with skills that command a premium - engineers, specialised techies, medical researchers, lawyers, etc.
3. people who get pay for performance - guys on commission essentially, or who get huge bonuses based on performance.
if you look at the country as a whole, there are lots of other people who earn more than 100k:
1. owners of small businesses.
2. doctors and other independent professionals
3. skilled trades, who get unionised rates of pay and overtime
4. pro athletes, entertainers, or people who get paid based on talent.
and then there is government - lots of people at hydro make over 100k - mostly engineers, but again, there are doctors, judges, and crown corporation executives and others...
all that being said, the 5% rule probably applies to the entire economy, though ontario, alberta and maybe bC are higher than the rest of the country. i think i saw a statistic a few years ago that indicated that FAMILIES with income over $150k were the top 2% - but that includes families with dual incomes, of course.
i believe this was based on the census - the underground economy might make it higher - drug dealers, guys working undert the the table to avoid gst etc., and so on.