Portrait of the Greater Montréal, 2010 edition - Communauté ...

ECONOMY AND QUALITY OF LIFe3.4 Human capitalConsiderable progress in university graduation rateWith respect to university graduates aged 25 to 64, Greater Montréal has not performed well. Together with Tampa, Québec,Edmonton and Riverside, Greater Montréal is one of North America’s 33 metropolitan areas with the fewest members ofthis age group holding a bachelor’s degree or higher (27%). For the same age range, the figures for Ottawa-Gatineau andToronto are just over one person in three.This profile of university education among 25-to-64 year-olds, however, hides the strong growth of university educationamong working-age youth. Among the population aged 25 to 34, Greater Montréal has jumped in the ranks and now places17 th out of 33 major metropolitan areas in terms of university graduation rate. This situation has made Greater Montréal theNorth American metropolitan area with the highest gap between the graduation rate among young people (25 to 34) andthat of the rest of the population of working age (35 to 64). In Canada’s six other metropolitan areas, there has also beena considerable increase in the university graduation rate.This situation is different from that observed in many U.S. metropolitan areas, especially in the southern and western parts ofthe country, where university education levels among the working-age population tend to be declining as a result, in particular,of the significant increase in immigrants from Latin America, many of whom are young workers with low education levels. 6Percentage of the 25-to-34 agegroup with a bachelor’s degreeor higher, 2006Percentage of the 35-to-64 agegroup with a bachelor’s degreeor higher, 2006Percentage variation betweenuniversity graduation rate,25-to-34 year-olds and35-to-64 year-olds, 200624BostonWashingtonSan FranciscoOttawa-GatineauNew YorkMinneapolisTorontoBaltimorePittsburghPhiladelphiaSeattleVancouverCalgaryChicagoDenverSan DiegoGreater MontréalSt. LouisAtlantaPortlandQuébecClevelandCincinnatiLos AngelesSacramentoDetroitMiamiEdmontonDallasTampaPhoenixHoustonRiverside33.9%WashingtonSan FranciscoBostonMinneapolisDenverSeattleNew YorkBaltimoreAtlantaSan DiegoPortlandChicagoOttawa-GatineauPhiladelphiaSacramentoDallasTorontoLos AngelesSt. LouisMiamiPittsburghHoustonPhoenixCincinnatiCalgaryVancouverDetroitClevelandTampaGreater MontréalQuébecEdmontonRiverside24.1%Greater Montréal 9.8TorontoPittsburghQuébecOttawa-GatineauVancouverBostonEdmontonCalgaryPhiladelphiaNew YorkMinneapolisBaltimoreSt. LouisClevelandChicagoCincinnatiSan FranciscoDetroitSeattleSan DiegoTampaWashingtonLos AngelesMiamiAtlantaSacramentoPortlandRiversideDenverPhoenixDallasHouston0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%- 8 - 4 0 4 8 12Sources: Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2006; US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2006. Calculations by the CMM, 2010.6 William H. Frey, Alan Berubé, Audrey Singer and Jill H. Wilson, Getting Current, Recent Demographic Trends in Metropolitan America (The Brookings Institution – MetropolitanPolicy Program, 2009), 24 p.