Canada

Sources:

Overall inequality: Series 1: Gini coefficient of equivalised (from 2010 square root scale) after-tax family unit income from Statistics Canada, Table 206-0033 (accessed 22 February 2017). Series 2: Gini coefficient for equivalised gross family income for 1965 to 1983 from Wolfson (1986, Table 3, Total Money Income Per Equivalent Adult Unit); Series 3: Gini coefficient for gross family income restricted to non-farm families for 1959-1971 from Love (1979, Table A.3).

Top income shares: Share of top 1 per cent in total gross income (individuals, excluding capital gains) from WID.world, based on work of Saez and Veall (2007) and Veall (2010) (more recent Longitudinal Administrative data LAD) linked in 1982 to earlier series).

Poverty measures: Percentage of individuals in households with equivalised after-tax annual income below 50 per cent of the median from Statistics Canada, Table 206-0041 (accessed 22 Feb 2017).

Dispersion of earnings: Earnings at top decile as percentage of median earnings, from OECD iLibrary, Employment and Labour Market Statistics, Gross earnings decile ratios (accessed 22 Feb 2017), joined from 1994 backwards to earlier observations from Atkinson (2008, Appendix C). Break between the two sources indicated within the table. Earlier OECD figures (Table C.3) are linked to a series on earnings in the manufacturing industry (Table C.5), linked in 1950 to census data prior to 1951 (Table C.4).

Wealth inequality: No suitable data were found.

References:

• Atkinson, A B, 2008, The changing distribution of earnings in OECD countries, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Love, R, 1979, Income distribution and inequality in Canada, Ministry of Supply and Services, Ottawa.
• Saez, E and Veall, M R, 2007, “The evolution of high incomes in Canada: 1920-2000” in A B Atkinson and T Piketty, editors, Top incomes over the twentieth century, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Veall, M R, 2010, “Top income shares in Canada: Updates and extensions”, working paper, McMaster University.
• Wolfson, M C, 1986, “Stasis Amid Change – Income Inequality in Canada 1965-1983”, Review of Income and Wealth, vol 32: 337-369.