If you were reading a newspaper last week, as some are still wont to do, you may have heard about the latest trend in economic analysis: generational inequality.
If it weren’t for the imminent military engagement against the Islamic State in the Middle East, it probably would have ranked as one of Canada’s biggest news stories last week.
For those who missed out, a new report by the Conference Board of Canada claimed the income gap between young and old workers is widening and has been for some time. In fact, today’s young workforce might be the first generation to be worse off than its parents.
Haven’t you heard? Gender pay inequality is old hat, its been improving for years—generational inequality is in vogue this season.
According to the report, “the average disposable income of Canadians between the ages of 50 and 54 is now 64 per cent higher than that of 25-to-29 year olds, up from 47 per cent in the mid-1980s.”
Something called “education inflation” is devaluing our degrees, we are getting paid less for the same work, housing prices are too high and, worst of all, these older workers are gobbling up all of the government benefits and pensions—leaving the cupboards bare for us cursed youth.
Frankly, if you’re in between the ages of 15 and 30 your prospects seem bleak.
As you might expect, a notion like this brought all the pundits out like clowns from a comically sized car.
Margret Wente, who if you haven’t heard of then consider yourself blessed, claimed in the Globe and Mail that young people aren’t getting a raw deal, they just have garbage priorities. Instead of saving they would rather spend their money on frivolous things like condos and automobiles.
Maybe Canadians should live more like the Chinese, says Wente; they save more proportionally despite smaller wages. Did you know she didn’t even get a manicure until she was 52? And look how awesome she is now.
The National Post’s Andrew Coyne also chimed in with a delightfully sarcastic article. Don’t worry young people, says Coyne, the old are paid more, but one day you too will be old—so don’t worry!
But what about in the meantime, you ask? Nothing, hold tight, it will get better in 15 years or so.
The media does this. They latch on to a concept, devour it for a week, mess with it until it’s a shadow of what it once was and move on—like news hungry tapeworms.
But maybe this is an issue that deserves a bit more debate. Maybe this should be an election issue in Canada—it is, after all, about the future of the nation.
The Conference Board report states: “This trend in inequality, if it continues, could both limit future economic growth and trigger growing conflict between older haves and younger have-nots.”
Unfortunately the laws of the news cycle dictate that we as a society move on from this particular issue, it has had its week in the sun and it’s another topic’s turn now.
Maybe global warming could use another robust, one-week debate—I’m sure that this time around we will be able solve it.
