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Income inequality in Metro Vancouver has increased by more than twice the national average since 1982, according to a new report that shows inequality concentrated in Canada’s biggest cities.

“The reality is, downtown Vancouverites are probably feeling the effects of inequality far more than the people we tend to think of,” said Francis Fong, chief economist for the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada and the report’s author.

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“We wanted to promote a better conversation (on the topic) by asking ‘who is it that is suffering from rising inequality?'” Fong said. “And the research shows that it’s actually people in the cities. And we don’t talk about them enough.”

Fong said part of it is a function of population growth — cities are where new citizens are landing and settling — but it is also due to the changing nature of jobs and employment.

Many middle-class jobs have been eliminated through automation and out-sourcing, particularly in manufacturing, and aren’t being replaced, Fong said. And new jobs being created are either farther up or farther down the income scale in Canada’s growing service-sector economy.