If you were a Black man living in Toronto in 1980, you were probably making about the same income as your white neighbour. But today, it’s a dramatically different story.Average incomes of racialized people in the Toronto region have stagnated or dropped over the past 35 years while incomes of non-racialized residents have soared, according to alarming new research by United Way Greater Toronto.The earnings gap was barely noticeable in 1980. But by 2015, for every dollar earned by non-racialized Torontonians, racialized residents made an average of just 52.1 cents, says the agency in a report being released Monday.“The growth of income inequality is undermining the promise that ‘diversity is our strength’ — and that’s a problem,” says United Way president Daniele Zanotti. “We know that in a less equal society, circumstances that are beyond your control — like the colour of your skin, the postal code you are growing up in — are now having a greater influence on your outcome,” he adds. “For a region to be great, it needs to be great for everyone.”The report, based on micro-data from the latest census, reinforces other Canadian research, the agency says. But it shows for the first time how income inequality impacts racialized people in the Toronto region to a much greater degree than in the rest of the country. And the findings are the same regardless of whether they are newcomers, longtime immigrants or Canadian-born.“There are lots of other reports that say the same thing, but we didn’t really expect to see it … so dramatically,” says Michelynn Laflèche, the United Way’s vice president of research and policy. “This one really shocked me.”Language and education are often blamed for the disparity, Laflèche notes, but other studies refute that explanation.“There is something else going on in the labour market that can only come down ...
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