Richer and Fairer: New Brunswick Income Trends, 1976-2019

Abstract

This report provides a detailed analysis of income trends in New Brunswick over the past four decades. Although income was much lower in New Brunswick than at the national level between 1981 and 2019, the gap narrowed over that period thanks to stronger growth in income in New Brunswick. By 2019, the size of the income gap had fallen to 23 per cent based on real GDP per capita, to 12 per cent based on personal income (which includes government transfers), and to 10 per cent based on personal disposable income (which includes government transfers and tax). The income gap between New Brunswick and Canada also shrank as measured per economic unit (economic families and unattached individuals) between 1976 and 2019. From 2000 to 2019, a period of strong real income growth in both New Brunswick and Canada, the gap between the rich and poor in New Brunswick also narrowed, as after-tax income inequality decreased and poverty rates fell. On the other hand, the wealth gap between Canada and New Brunswick widened between 1999 and 2019.

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