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Canada’s economy experienced a recession from the fourth quarter of 2008 through the second quarter of 2009, the first such contraction since 1990-91.

In 2010, a tax filer required an annual income of $201,400 to be in the top 1%, up from $147,500 in 1982.

The median income for the richest of Canada’s 25.5 million taxpayers was $283,400 in 2010, about 10 times greater than the $28,400 median of the remaining 99%, according to the report. The income disparity has widened from 1982 when the top 1%’s median income of $191,600 was about seven times larger than the rest.

The income of top filers was increasingly dependent on their jobs, rather than on investments. In 1982, more than half of the richest men in Canada made their fortunes from wages and salaries. By 2000, this had increased to 67%.

Over time, the report also stated that the top filers are more likely to stay on top. Among those who were in the top 1% in 1983, two-thirds (67%) were also in the top 1% in 1982. By 2010, this one-year measure had risen to 72%. In 1987, almost 44% of high-earners had been in the top 1% five years

earlier; in 2010, within five years, 52.7% remained the richest Canadians.

The proportion of women among top 1% in 2010 grew to 21%, almost double the 11% share reported in 1982, Statistics Canada said.

Montréal, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver accounted for 62% of the top 1% of tax filers in 2010.

With files from wire services