StatsCan: Nunavut low in computer literacy, school completion

This graph shows comparative levels of computer literacy skills between the OECD and Canada’s provinces and territories in 2012. (STATSCAN IMAGE)

This graph compares levels of post-secondary attainment between Canadian provinces and territories and the OECD. (STATSCAN IMAGE)

Nunavut educators and employers will have learned more unflattering news about low levels of educational attainment and computer literacy in the territory, thanks to a report that Statistics Canada issued March 29.

That report compares the education levels of the Canadian workforce with that of 33 other countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD.

The OECD is an international economic development organization made up of highly developed nation states located mostly in Western and Central Europe, North America, and Asia.

The StatsCan numbers show that, except for Nunavut, education attainment levels in Canada compare favourably with other OECD member states.

For example, StatsCan said 90 per cent of adults in Canada have completed high school at least, higher than all but four OECD countries and tied with the United States.

Only the Czech Republic, Estonia, the Slovak Republic and Poland had higher proportions of high school graduates in their workforces than in Canada.

Also, almost ever province and territory in Canada had a proportion of adults in 2014 who completed high school that was higher than the OECD average.

But there was one exception in Canada: Nunavut, where only 51 per cent of people aged 25 to 64 had at least completed high school.

The StatsCan report also compared Canada to other OECD countries on computer literacy.

On that one — termed “problem solving and information and communications technologies skills — Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Newfoundland-Labrador showed low scores.

In Canada as a whole, 35 per cent of adults aged 25 to 64 had good computer literacy in 2014, slightly more than the OECD average of 32 per cent.

But in Nunavut, only about 11 or 12 per cent of adults aged 25 to 64 had good computer literacy skills and in Newfoundland-Labrador, less than 30 per cent.

As a proportion of the gross domestic product, education spending is high in Nunavut: 9.8 per cent of the territory’s GDP.

The Canadian average for education spending is 6.4 per cent of GDP, with Alberta spending 5.2 per cent of its GDP on education in 2014.