Article content continued

The table below, shows the percentage change in Canadians’ net worth by income quintile (or fifth). It also lists each quintile’s 2016 net worth. On average (though this isn’t shown) household net worth rose from $505,336 in 2010 to $712,704 — more than $200,000 — or 41 per cent.

What’s especially interesting is that despite the current frenzy about inequality it was a better half-decade for those Canadians lower down the income distribution than those up top. Both bottom quintiles saw their net worth grow by more than 50 per cent (if barely), while in the top quintile, average net worth grew only 38 per cent. The middle quintile, the most literal possible definition of the Liberals’ treasured “middle class,” did only a little better than that. The second quintile from the top did see 44-per-cent growth, outdoing both top and middle. But the bottom two quintiles led the pack.

The dollar values quoted are in “nominal dollars,” i.e., the dollars of the day in each year. The Bank of Canada Inflation Calculator tells us there was almost exactly a 10-per-cent increase in prices from2010 to 2016, so to judge the growth of real net worth you should knock off 10 percentage points. Still, it was a good half-decade for all five income classes.

To be sure, this was coming off 2009, which was a big disaster in terms of net worth, so a recovery should have been expected. Unfortunately, these data only go back to 2010.

There’s also no question that it’s better to be in the top quintile than the bottom. Average net worth up top was $1.7 million, versus only $208,000 down below. As always with inequality calculations, however, it’s best to keep things in perspective. Some people at the bottom are just starting out — my own kids, for instance — and actually have negative net worth: no assets to speak of but thousands of dollars of student debt. On the other hand, some people at the top are in their peak years for wealth, just finishing their saving years and moving into their “dis-saving” years, when they’ll consume down their net worth.