Global TV

Rich income, poor income gap widens

Global TV National, Monday, September 04, 2006

Members of the United Steel Workers union march in the Detroit Labor Day Parade September 4, 2006 in Detroit, Michigan. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

VANCOUVER -- Our neighbours to the south may have Canadians to thank when it comes to enjoying a day off in September.

Inspired by Toronto's Annual Worker's Parade in the late 1800s, the American Labour Movement also adopted the first Monday of September to rally for the rights of workers -- but a century later, the state of the workers may not be so rosy.

For nine straight years, the U.S. minimum wage rate has remained unchanged, according to the Ecomonic Policy Institute (EPI), a Washington-based think tank, while the wages of the highest earners in America have continued to soar -- to the degree that the U.S. ranks dead last in worker equality among industrialized nations.

Canada ranks 11th in the EPI survey of 18 nations, which measures the gap between the top 10 percent and the bottom 10 per cent of household income. Denmark ranks in as first with the smallest gap between rich and poor earners, followed by Norway and Finland.

A recent Canadian survey of CEO wages for several companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange found that average CEO salaries soared 39 per cent in 2005 as compared to the previous year, which in itself was a high-compensation year.