Falling Further Behind: Explaining the Contribution of Post-Secondary Education to the Growth of the Indigenous Income Gap

Abstract

Abstract Over the past twenty-five years, Canadian federal discourse has increasingly recognized the importance of addressing socioeconomic disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. While the data reveal widespread improvements in Indigenous socioeconomic outcomes, these successes are overshadowed by the reality that Indigenous people continue to lag behind non-Indigenous Canadians on many socioeconomic metrics. Our study aims to better understand the factors that contribute to the ongoing growth of the Indigenous income gap and focuses specifically on the contribution of post-secondary education to the growth of this gap. Using the 2018 National Graduate Survey, we find that the income gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians continues to grow even when we account for equivalent levels of educational attainment. Our results have significant implications for policies, namely related to student loans, university education, and family composition. We ultimately conclude that assessing the effectiveness of policies in targeting the growth of the gap requires a more comprehensive and contextualized understanding of their impact in the everyday lives of Indigenous peoples.