We thank Tom Cro ssley, Jean Far es and Byr on S penc er fo r helpful d iscussio ns, par ticipant s in seminars at the SEDAP Conference (April 2001) and York University (June 2001) for comments, and SEDAP and SSHRCC for financial support. The Education Premium in Canada and the United States Abstract It is well known that in the United States the education premium -the ratio of the earnings of university graduates to the earnings of high school graduates -has risen sharply in the last twenty

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... rs. Some Canadian economists and policy makers presume the same fact holds in Canada. Since so much of modern growth theory and micro and macro econo mic policy turns on the education premium it is important for social scientists and policy makers to know what has act ually ha ppe ned t o t he ed ucatio n premium. This p aper ar gues that on t he basis o f availa ble evidence over the last twenty years the premium has been constant or has fallen in Canada.