Highlights: 2016 census data on education, labour and commuting

Statistics Canada issued its sixth and final batch of 2016 census numbers Wednesday, this one focused on education, labour, journey to work, language of work and mobility and migration.

Some highlights:

• Canada ranked first among OECD countries with 54 per cent of residents between the ages 25 to 64 having college diplomas or university degrees in 2016, up from 48.3 per cent in 2006.
• Of women aged 25 to 34, 40.7 per cent had a bachelor's degree or higher, up from 32.8 per cent in 2006. Among men of the same age, 7.8 per cent held an apprenticeship certificate, up from 4.9 per cent 10 years earlier.
• For the first time, women aged 25-34 with an earned doctorate (50.6 per cent) outnumber their male counterparts, although not in fields like architecture, computer and information sciences and so-called STEM studies (science, technology, engineering and math).
• Only about 18.6 per cent of working-age Canadians with a post-secondary degrees graduated from STEM fields.
• Four in 10 immigrants aged 25 to 64 had a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with just under 25 per cent of the Canadian-born population in the same age bracket. Of those, recent immigrant women — those who landed in the five years prior to the 2016 census — were more likely to have a degree than their male counterparts.

• Women with a bachelor's degree earned about 40 per cent more than those with a college diploma, and 60 per cent more than those who only finished high school.
• One in five working-age single mothers had a bachelor's degree or higher, up from 14.7 per cent in 2006. The percentage jumped to 39 per cent among mothers who were married or living common-law, up from 26.9 per cent 10 years earlier.
• More Canadians than ever before are commuting to work: 15.9 million last year, a 30.3 per cent jump since 1996. Of those, the number taking public transit grew by 59.5 per cent, while the ranks of those driving jumped by 28.3 per cent.
• The average commute in Canada last year was 26.2 minutes, compared with 25.4 minutes in 2011. For drivers, the average was 24.1 minutes, and 44.8 minutes for those taking public transit.
• The number of Canadians who walked to work last year was 3.2 per cent higher than it was 20 years ago, while the ranks of cyclists has grown by 61.6 per cent since 1996.
• 10.9 per cent of Indigenous people aged 25 to 64 had a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with 7.7 per cent in 2006; those holding college diplomas reached 23 per cent last year, up from 18.7 per cent.
• Nearly one in five Canadians aged 65 or older worked at some point in 2015, twice the percentage recorded 20 years earlier, while 5.9 per cent of seniors worked throughout the entire year — the highest percentage ever recorded. Those who worked full-time saw their median income, measured in 2015 dollars, jump by 30 per cent since 2005.

• Nearly seven per cent of all private-vehicle commuters spent an hour or longer getting to work — some 853,610 people, up from 815,770 in 2011.
• Fewer men of working age actually worked full-time in 2015 —56.2 per cent, down from 63.3 per cent 10 years earlier and the lowest percentage ever recorded.
• In the health care sector, women outnumbered men four to one, while men outnumbered women three to one in high-tech jobs.
• Yukon and the Northwest Territories had the highest employment rates of all the provinces and territories at the time of the census in 2016, at 68.5 per cent and 66.2 per cent, respectively, followed by the Prairies, with Alberta at 65.4 per cent, Saskatchewan at 63.5 per cent and Manitoba at 61.7 per cent.
• The three most common occupations in Canada for women were retail salesperson, registered nurse and registered psychiatric nurse, and cashier; for men, truck driver, retail salesperson, and retail and wholesale trade manager.
• At 62.2 per cent to 37.8 per cent, men outnumbered women in managerial positions in 2016, although the percentage of women in management increased from 36.5 per cent in 2006.
• Women comprised half of the general practitioners and specialist physicians in Canada in 2016, up from 34 per cent in 1996.
• Thanks to a 30 per cent drop in farming among Canadians, the proportion of those working at home dipped to 7.4 per cent in 2016, down from 8.2 per cent. Outside of the family farm, the percentage of those working at home has remained unchanged at 6 per cent since 1996.