Toronto 
It is well known that Canadian workers in the Technology sector receive much less pay for the same profile than their U.S. counterparts.
Credit: James Wheeler/Pexels
Now, a new study, Comparing Employment Income in Toronto and selected American Metropolitan Areas, conducted by the Fraser Institute, a Canadian public policy think-tank, reveals that Toronto has the lowest median employment income among the 15 largest metropolitan areas in North America.
This analysis included cities from both Canada and the United States, with Toronto being the sole Canadian city large enough to be part of the comparison. The study focused on median employment income, which encompasses wages, salaries, and commissions earned before taxes and government transfers.
According to the research findings, Toronto’s median employment income significantly lags behind that of its American counterparts, including the highest-ranking metropolitan area, San Francisco, and even the lowest-ranking U.S. metropolitan area, Miami, with gaps of $32,765 and $2,030 respectively in 2019.
This disparity underscores a broader “prosperity gap” between Ontario and neighbouring American states, further highlighted by the province’s sluggish economic growth throughout the 2010s.
The study also examined the growth in median employment earnings over the 2010s, revealing Toronto’s growth rate of 0.4 percent per annum, placing it 10th among the 15 metropolitan areas analyzed. This slow growth rate indicates a persistent challenge in improving employment income in Toronto compared to its American counterparts.
The analysis, based on 2019 data to avoid distortions from the COVID-19 pandemic and recession, suggests that employment incomes in U.S. metropolitan areas generally surpass those in Toronto. This gap not only persisted but also expanded over the course of the 2010s, underscoring the need for targeted policy interventions to bridge the income disparity and foster economic growth in Toronto and, by extension, Ontario.
