The Hennessy Index is a monthly listing of numbers, written by the CCPA’s Trish Hennessy, about Canada and its place in the world.
February 2011: Inequality
• $6.6 million
The average compensation of Canada’s best-paid 100 CEOs in 2009. (Source)
• $42,988
The average wage for Canadians working full time, year round. (Source)
• 155 times
How much the best-paid 100 CEOs earn more than average wage. (Source)
• Zero
The number of women among the best-paid 100 CEOs in Canada in 2009. (Source)
• 20th
Canada ranks 20th, behind the U.S., in a global ranking of women’s equality. (Source)
• Canada’s richest 1 per cent
Doubled their income share between the late 1970s and 2007. (Source)
• Canada’s richest 0.01 per cent
Quintupled their share of income during that same period. (Source)
• Shrinking middle
The share of income for the bottom 80 per cent of Canadian families with children is smaller today than it was a generation ago. (Source)
• Teetering
Six out of 10 Canadians could be in trouble if their pay cheque gets delayed. (Source)
• Debt nation
Canadian consumer debt to financial assets ratio worst of 20 OECD nations. (Source)
• $1.41 trillion
Canadian household debt. (Source)
• 17th
Canada ranks 17 out of 24 OECD nations on children’s material well-being. (Source)
• One in 10
Canadian children live in poverty. One in four Aboriginal children live in poverty. (Source)
A solution
Shifting 1 per cent of Canadians’ collective after-tax income to the one in 10 Canadians living in low income would eliminate poverty in Canada. (Source)
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative’s Trish Hennessy has long been a fan of Harper Magazine’s one-page list of eye-popping statistics, Harper’s Index. Instead of wishing for a Canadian version to magically appear, she’s created her own index — a monthly listing of numbers about Canada and its place in the world. Hennessy’s Index — A number is never just a number — comes out on the first of each month in rabble.ca. Support rabble today!
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