Social Policy Trends: The Energy Boom and Income

THE ENERGY BOOM AND INCOME GROWTH In the last decade, both rich and poor households in Alberta enjoyed significant income growth. An energy boom fueled by high, though volatile, oil prices was a key driver of economic growth in Alberta for much of the period 2000- 2015. Who was the beneficiary of that boom? The graphs show, for each year during the period 2000-2015, the average after-tax and after-transfer incomes of the top 10% of households (upper panel), and the bottom 10% of households (lower panel). All figures are adjusted for inflation. To gain a sense of the contribution of the energy boom to changes in household earnings, we compare incomes in Alberta with those in Ontario