The poor got poorer

In Canada, University of British Columbia, economist Thomas Lemieux and Brahim Boudarbat of Universite de Montreal produced a report, titled: The Poor Got Poorer. Thereport shows recent immigrants are falling into extremes. They're either doing better than native-born Canadians in education, business and the professions, or they're descending into an increasingly struggling immigrant under-class,revealing a big financial gap among recent immigrants.

Immigrants at the lower edge of the spectrum have experienced wage drops of 30 per cent in recent decades, worse than other Canadians at the bottom end. Education, of almost any kind, is the key to decreasing earning gaps among immigrants and all Canadians, Lemieux explained. Yet education in Canada has been increasing much faster than the price tag of most other goods and services."What's getting the most expensive now in Canada? In the past 15 years it has not been TVs or cars. It's actually education. It may be discouraging lots of people from going to school."

The wealthiest Canadians "have doubled their share of the pie" in the past 15 years, according to Lemieux.