the TRUTH about income inequality

Finally the TRUTH about income inequality has been published today in the FP Comment section of the National Post  under the title " 'Poor' getting richer". The authors, Niels Veldhuis and Charles Lammam, are economists at the Fraser Institute and co-authors of the recently released “Measuring Income Mobility in Canada,” available at www.fraserinstitute.org

As a Professional Recruiter since 1981, it has long been evident to me that personal incomes change as workers progress through various stages of their  careers. Peak earning years inevitably occur later in one's career as employees gain more experience and/or rise through the employers' ranks into progressively more responsible leadership roles.

Rather that taking a snapshot of income distributions like most 'leftist' economists are apt to do to skew their idealogical arguments,  Mr. Veldhuis and Lammam take a more appropriate longitudinal view in " 'Poor' getting richer" by tracking the income changes of 1 million Canadians over 19 years.
The conclusions were highly predicable and what should be common knowledge to everyone that the vast majority of our citizens move up from the lowest quintile of earnings throughout their careers. In addition,  this rising income distribution is spread somewhat evenly across  each of the 4 quintiles above the lowest income level.

For some time now, I have been disappointed in the mainstream media's focus on the need for more and better education in order to increase income levels [ ie through better paying 'specialist' jobs] rather than discussing the equally important 'career planning & development' contribution to these rising incomes. With better information and career guidance,  our citizens can make better career decisions and personal investments in order to navigate through increasingly complex employment markets. The goals is to help each citizen to contribute their best throughout every stage of their career for both their own well-being as well as that of their employers.

Prosperity in Ontario will come by removing government-imposed  hurdles to growth as well as to facilitate the creation of a 'careers-friendly' environment that will enable our "human capital" career hurdlers to function at Olympic  performance levels. Hopefully, some creative entrepreneur will cease on this business opportunity and serve this under-served need with a new business model that can be profitable for everyone. This is NOT a market that needs to be served by another government agency.

Let's think "careers", not just "education",  and we will all cross the finish line in record time.