Study
| EST. READ TIME 1 MIN.Household incomes in Windsor and London fell from top third in Canada to the bottom third over fifteen years
Economic Performance in Southwestern Ontario’s CMAs: A National Perspective, 2023 Update
Summary
- Over the past several years, the Fraser Institute’s Ontario Prosperity Initiative has published several studies analyzing economic developments across various reasons of Ontario.
- This bulletin examines trends surrounding median household income in large metropolitan areas across Canada, with a particular focus on Census Metropolitan Areas in southwestern Ontario.
- The two large CMAs in southwest Ontario that are outside of the Toronto commuter area, London and Windsor, were amongst the worst performers on this important measure of well-being between 2005 and 2019.
- Since the turn of the century, southwestern Ontario has gone from being one of the most prosperous regions in Canada to being in the bottom third on median household income.
- Over this span Windsor went from having the 11th highest median household income in Canada to having the 33rd highest. London fell from 13th to 28th place.
- The region’s economic struggles began prior to the 2008-09 recession and following that severe economic shock its recovery was tepid.
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Ben Eisen
Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
Ben Eisen is a Senior Fellow in Fiscal and Provincial Prosperity Studies and former Director of Provincial Prosperity Studies at theFraser Institute. He holds a BA from the University of Toronto and an MPP from the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance. Prior to joining the Fraser Institute Mr. Eisen was the Director of Research and Programmes at the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies in Halifax. He also worked for the Citizens Budget Commission in New York City, and in Winnipeg as the Assistant Research Director for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Mr. Eisen has published influential studies on several policy topics, including intergovernmental relations, public finance, and higher education policy. He has been widely quoted in major newspapers including the National Post, Chronicle Herald, Winnipeg Free Press and Calgary Herald.… Read more -
Nathaniel Li
Senior Economist, Fraser InstituteNathaniel Li is a Senior Economist at the Fraser Institute. He holds a B.A. from the Fudan University in China anda Ph.D. in Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Guelph. Prior to joining the Fraser Institute, he worked for the University of Toronto as a postdoctoral fellow and the University of Guelph as a research associate. His past research work has been published in many high-quality, peer-reviewed academic journals, including the Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural Economics, Preventive Medicine, and Canadian Public Policy. His current research covers a wide range of issues in fiscal, education, and labour-market policies.… Read more -
Steve Lafleur
Steve Lafleur is a research director at the Institute for Research on Public Policy, a former senior fellow of theFraser Institute and a former senior policy analyst at the Fraser Institute. He holds an M.A. in Political Science from Wilfrid Laurier University and a B.A. from Laurentian University where he studied Political Science and Economics. He was previously a Senior Policy Analyst with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy in Winnipeg and is a Contributing Editor to New Geography. His past work has focused primarily on housing, transportation, local government and inter-governmental fiscal relations. His current focus is on economic competitiveness of jurisdictions in the Prairie provinces. His writing has appeared in every major national and regional Canadian newspaper and his work has been cited by many sources including the Partnership for a New American Economy and the Reason Foundation.… Read more