New data from Statistics Canada shines a light on the surprising ways the value of post-secondary education is changing.
Last week, the agency released a trove of data that tracks the salaries of graduates from different types of post-secondary institutions.
The data reveals which type of degree, diploma, or certificate—and which fields of study—offer the greatest payoff. It also shows how those payoffs are changing over time.
More Education Does Mean More Money
At the broadest level, the Statistics Canada data show people with more education generally make more money.
Workers with a college certificate made an average of $34,000 two years after graduating, and $40,100 after five years.
Those with an un undergraduate degree, meanwhile, pulled in an average of $47,100 after two years and $54,300 after five.
Master’s Degree holders’ average salary was $70,000 after two years and $81,000 after five.
Average Salary By Type Of Education:
- College certificate: $34,000 (after two years), $40,100 (after five years);
- Professional Degree: $35,700 (after two years), $44,600 (after five years);
- College Diploma: $38,200 (after two years), $45,000 (after five years);
- Undergraduate Degree: $47,100 (after two years), $54,300 (after five years);
- Master’s Degree: $70,000 (after two years), $81,000 (after five years).
Field Of Study Really Matters
Your level of education isn’t the only thing that affects how much you’re paid: your field of study also plays a significant part.
The average wages in different fields varied depending on the type of education but the broad trends generally held. The data on people with undergraduate degrees is a good benchmark.
It shows people in the “business, management, and public administration” fields make the most. They bring home an average of $68,900 two years after graduating.
People with an undergraduate degree in the “education” field had an average salary of $43,600 after two years. “Health and related fields” averaged $46,900 two years after graduating.
The worst-compensated undergraduates are those in the humanities. They brought home an average of $24,000 two years after graduating, and $37,100 after five years.
Post-Secondary Education Is Getting More Expensive, And Less Valuable
This Statistics Canada data makes a pretty good case that more education leads to higher salary. But it also reveals something else: the overall value of higher education is getting steadily worse.
Value, in this context, is limited entirely to how much money graduates are making. Most people recognize the full value of a post-secondary education lies in more than just its financial payoffs.
However, those financial payoffs are absolutely diminishing.
Statistics Canada first started tracking graduates’ salaries in 2010. Its latest data looks at people who graduated in 2014 (their salaries five years after graduating were recorded in 2019, so the trends in this data are all pre-covid).
Over those five years of graduating classes, the average salary went down across all degree type, even as the average Canadian’s salary rose.
People who graduated with college certificate in 2010 made an average of $38,100 two years after graduating. People who graduated in 2014 made an average of $34,000 two years after graduating.
That’s a drop of almost 11 percent.
People who earned an undergraduate degree in 2010 made an average of $49,200 two years later. Their counterparts, who graduted in 2014, made an average of $48,200 after two years.
During that same period, the average Canadian went from making $34,400 to $35,600. That’s a jump of about three-and-a-half percent.
Meanwhile, just as the return on post-secondary education diminishing, the cost is exploding. The average undergraduate tuition went up by nearly 17 percent in the five years between 2010 and 2014.
Editor’s Note: the values in this story are adjusted for inflation and shown in “2019 constant dollars.”
***Trevor Nichols is a reporter with HuddleToday.ca. Huddle Today Limited and Acadia Broadcasting are each part of the Ocean Capital Group.
