Post Secondary Education

Current Trend

In 2011, Chatham-Kent had a higher percentage of residents aged 25-64 years old with less than high school education (17.6%) when compared to Ontario (11.0%). In addition, a lower percentage of CK residents aged 25-64 years old held a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree (CK: 34.82% vs. ON: 44.49%). In 2016, the gap is closing with Chatham-Kent having 37.31% of residents holding a post-secondary certificate versus Ontario having 45.19%.

Desired Trend

Decrease in the proportion of Chatham-Kent residents who have no diploma, degree or certificate.

Why is this measurement important?

In 2016, more than half (54.0%) of Canadians aged 25 to 64 had either college or university qualifications, up from 48.3% in 2006.

With an aging Canadian population and growing demand for knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the labour market, post secondary education is critical to a prosperous future for Canada.

"Education is a basic need and an important aspiration of people. It has a strong influence on their well-being. Better-educated individuals earn higher wages and have a higher probability to have a job. They live longer lives, report a better health status and a lower occurrence of chronic diseases and disabilities. Better educated individuals also participate more actively in politics and in the community where they live, they commit fewer crimes and rely less on social assistance. At the level of the society as a whole, better education leads to higher GDP growth, higher tax revenues and lower social expenditures." – OECD 2011 Compendium of OECD Well-Being Indicators.

How is this measured?

Number of Chatham-Kent residents, age 25 and up that hold a post-secondary certificate versus the total population of Chatham-Kent, age 25 and up.