Gap widens between Windsor-Essex and Ontario population without post-secondary education
Gap widens between Windsor-Essex and Ontario population without post-secondary education
While new census data shows the percentage of the Windsor-Essex population with a post-secondary education has slightly increased over 10 years, the differential between the region’s percentage and its provincial counterpart has grown.
The data released Wednesday shows the percentage of people in Windsor-Essex between 25 and 64 years of age who have some post-secondary education rose from 58.2 per cent in 2011 to 60.1 per cent in 2021.
In comparison to the province, 64.7 per cent of Ontario’s population had a post-secondary education in 2011, with Windsor-Essex sitting 6.5 percentage points lower. Provincial numbers rose to 67.8 per cent in 2021, widening the gap between Ontario and Windsor-Essex to 7.7 per cent.
“This represents a significant risk for our community,” said Alicea Fleming, vice president of community impact for United Way Windsor-Essex.
“We have concerns that we’re not keeping pace with the number of young people competing post-secondary education. When we think about the future of work in our community, the sectors that are going to start to boom and the jobs we have coming to our area, it’s really important that we have young people and workers who have the skills to take those positions.”
Much of it has to do with household income, Fleming added, and its link to post-secondary access.
“High school graduation and post secondary education participation rates are linked to household income. The data supports this and we know this to be true,” she said.
While the United Way has previously said 1 in 7 children in Windsor-Essex live in poverty, Fleming said the number increases to 1 in 3 specifically in west Windsor, downtown Windsor and Leamington where more people live in low-income housing.
According to data, researcher Frazier Fathers, there are historical reasons as to why Windsor-Essex has traditionally lagged behind the province for those seeking post-secondary education.
“For a long time, you could walk out of high school, get a good paying job at one of the Big 3. Some of them are still there .They’re at the back end of that 64-year-old age group. So they’re still captured in that data,” said Fathers.
With many of those individuals retiring, Fathers said upper levels of government need to further incentivize getting young people into skilled trade programs.
According to Statistics Canada, the number of “working-age apprenticeship certificate holders” stagnated or fell in construction trades, mechanics and repair technologies between 2016 and 2021.
“But I also think there are these big system challenges that are bigger than what can be tackled locally … There’s a lot things that can be taken away from this data,” said Fathers.
“We have a lower educational attainment rate for a portion of our population. We have higher low-income rates. We have growing inequality in our community from an income perspective. There's a thread there.”
The United Way adds access to post-secondary education is made more difficult by the fact that Ontario’s average tuition rates are about $1,500 higher than the national average.
W5 goes deep into the narco heartland to interview a commander with one of Mexico's most brutal cartels. W5's documentary 'Narco Avocados' airs Saturday at 7 pm on CTV.
Memphis authorities released video footage Friday showing Tyre Nichols being beaten by police officers who held the Black motorist down and repeatedly struck him with their fists, boots and batons as he screamed for his mother and pleaded, ''I'm just trying to go home.'
When selling a home, Canadians may be exempted from paying capital gains tax on a residential property -- if it's their principal residence. On CTVNews.ca, personal finance contributor Christopher Liew explains what's determined as a principal residence, and what properties are eligible for the exemption.
The head of the Canada Revenue Agency says it 'wouldn't be worth the effort' to fully review $15.5 billion in potentially ineligible pandemic wage benefit payments flagged by Canada's Auditor General.
A review has been launched after police officers were recorded restraining a handcuffed Indigenous child on the floor of a Vancouver hospital – an incident the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has denounced as "horrendous."
The World Health Organization will announce Monday whether it thinks COVID-19 still represents a global health emergency but Canada's top doctor says regardless of what the international body decides, Canada's response to the coronavirus will not change.
Hyundai cars in Canada don't have the same anti-theft issue compared to those in the United States, a company spokesperson says, following reports that two American auto insurers are refusing to write policies for older models.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) shut down a section of a Perth County roadway Friday after they say a passerby discovered a body in the area overnight.
A Kitchener elementary school is responding to reports of a suspicious man who appeared to be watching or following students on two separate occasions.
Educators are hoping to write a new chapter in the story of ChatGPT, and it’s one that sees limits on the program’s ability to do school work for students.
Inflation has driven the cost to build London’s first rapid transit route over budget and threatens to increase the price tag for the two remaining routes.
Barrie Colts owner Howie Campbell, as well as the captain and alternate captain of the Colts, Brandt Clarke and Jacob Frasca visited the two patients at RVH this week.
The manager of a Tim Hortons in North Bay was wrong to fire a long-term employee because of her physical limitations, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has ruled.
The body of a 29-year-old Sudbury nurse was recovered Wednesday night from a lake near Parry Sound after her snowmobile went through the ice, police say.
The Parliamentary Protective Service says it expects as many as 500 people to gather on Parliament Hill for an event this weekend to mark the one-year anniversary since the start of the 'Freedom Convoy' protest.
A water main which broke and flooded a major downtown Toronto intersection 140 years after it went into the ground is a reminder that city infrastructure needs constant upkeep, an expert says.
The TTC is adding dozens of staff across the system daily in an effort to increase safety as it grapples with recent violent attacks that have left many riders shaken.
On Jan. 29, 2017, six men were killed and five others injured shortly after evening prayer at the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre. Montrealers gathered Friday to commemorate the victims and call for action amid a rise in hate crimes.
In an emotional and powerful speech at an International Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Ottawa, a survivor stressed the importance of remembering the millions of victims murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War and underscored the need to stand up against anti-semitism and hate.
The Francois Legault government announced the formation of an interdepartmental 'action group' on the French language to find ways to halt the 'decline' of the language in Quebec.
In trying to prevent of a large tax increase, Halifax councillors face another problem. They have to find more than $13 million in savings -- that means cuts.
Upward of five centimetres of snow fell in Calgary early Friday morning and officials said conditions were good, but the situation deteriorated later on Friday, leading to plenty of crashes and road closures.
The self-proclaimed spiritual leader accused of sexually assaulting four of his female followers between 2017 and 2020 made his first court appearance in Edmonton.
New details have emerged in an ongoing civil lawsuit against the City of Leduc as court documents detail allegations that women working as firefighters experienced systemic discrimination and sexual assault.
An Alberta government email review of whether Premier Danielle Smith’s office interfered with Crown prosecutors has taken a confusing turn, with duelling statements from two spokespeople on what was investigated.
A review has been launched after police officers were recorded restraining a handcuffed Indigenous child on the floor of a Vancouver hospital – an incident the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has denounced as "horrendous."
B.C.’s public safety minister made the right call asking for more information before approving Surrey's policing plans, according to two city councillors.
