Canadians are well educated, increasing employment prospects

"In Canada and other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries,î reports Statistics Canada's Education Indicators in Canada: An International Perspective, 2012, "it is evident that employment prospects increase with educational attainment.î

And it would seem Canadians are well educated and becoming better educated all the time. According to the pan-Canadian report ó the fourth of a series that applies international standards ó the proportion of Canadians aged 25 to 64 with the equivalent of college and university completion increased to 51% in 2010 from 40% in 2000. At the same time, the number of those 25 to 64 who did not complete high school decreased to 12% in 2010 from 19% in 2000.

Break it down even further, in 2010, 92% of Canadian aged 25 to 34 had completed at least a high school education, compared with 82% for those aged 55 to 64 "reflecting change in attainment patterns.î These rates were higher than the average for the 34 OECD-member countries.

As you might expect, the employment rate tracks higher for those with higher education. In 2010, reports Education Indicators in Canada, Canada's employment rate for adults aged 25 to 64 who had competed college diploma and certificate programs was 81% and for those who had completed university and advanced degrees was 82%. By comparison, the employment rate for those Canadians aged 25 to 64 who not completed high school was 55%. For upper secondary graduates, the employment rate was 72%.

Certainly, in terms of spending on education, Canada is no different than other OECD countries. "With 6.1% of its GDP allocated to educational institutions in 2008,î says the report, "Canada devoted about the same share of its wealth as the OECD countries on average (6.2%).î

Where Canada differs is on the relative portion of money that goes toward "tertiaryî education vs primary and secondary. Says the report: "In 2008, 40.2% (2.5% of 6.1%) of the share of GDP that Canada invested in education was allocated to the tertiary sector. Among the OECD countries, Canada, along with the United States (36%) and Chile (35.8%), allocated the largest share of education spending to tertiary education.î

Certainly on the basis of educational institutions' expenditures per student, post-secondary education gets the largest share of financial resources in Canada. In 2008-09 fiscal year, expenditures per primary school student was $10,758; for a secondary school student, $11,489; and, for a university-equivalent student, $31,103.

Another interesting difference, the report points out, for primary and secondary education, the compensation of staff ó particularly teachers ó accounted for the largest proportion of expenditures at 77.4% and 62.4%, respectively. At the tertiary level, staff compensation ate up 63.1% of expenditures and teacher compensation 36.2%. Capital expenditure ó that is spending on the construction, renovation and major repair of buildings ó accounted for 10.5% of tertiary-education expenditures, vs 9% for the OECD and 7.2% for primary and secondary.