With graduation season in full swing, students are busy celebrating the culmination of their high school careers and preparing for the next phase of life.

In the West, more students are crossing the stage to pick up their diplomas.

Although this year’s graduation rate is not yet available, recent trends show graduation rates are slowly climbing in the western provinces.

Manitoba has shown year-over-year improvement since 2006. Its high school completion rate increased by more than 10 per cent, from 76.6 per cent in 2006 to 87 per cent in 2014.

B.C. saw fairly steady grad rates between 2006 and 2012 of 79 to 81 per cent and then an upswing since 2012. The on-time[1] completion rate was about 84 per cent in 2015.

Like Manitoba, Alberta’s on-time completion rate has climbed each year since 2008. It increased nearly six per cent from 70.8 per cent in 2008 to 76.4 per cent in 2014. However, Alberta and Saskatchewan still have the lowest completion rates in the West.

In 2014, Saskatchewan’s grad rate was the same as it was in 2006. After declining for several years, it has been rising since 2011. The provincial government recently set a goal of achieving an 85 per cent graduation rate by June 2020. To meet this target, high school complete will have to increase by 10 per cent over the next four years.

Governments like to see high graduation rates because a high school certificate proves to have huge benefits for individuals’ well-being. By extension, economic benefits are reaped.

The Conference Board notes “[g]overnments have plenty of evidence that well-educated citizens are more actively engaged in society: they tend to make better choices about factors that affect their quality of life (e.g., diet, smoking, exercise); and they earn higher incomes than those who are less educated. The consequences of dropping out of high school include “reduced lifetime earnings, poor health, increased unemployment, delinquency, crime, substance abuse, early childbearing, economic dependency, and reduced quality of life, and an increased incidence of marital instability.”

In terms of wages, employees without a high school diploma typically earn less income than those with a high school diploma. It is estimated that someone without a high school diploma earns 80 per cent of what someone with a diploma earns. Over 45 years, the difference between a person with and without a diploma can amount to more than $700,000.

For young adults active in the work force, those who have not competed high school have a harder time finding employment than those who graduate. According to Statistics Canada, the unemployment rate for Canadians without a high school certificate is 25 per cent higher than unemployment for Canadians who have at least completed secondary education.

This is evident in Canada’s unemployment numbers during the 2008 global economic recession.  Prior to the recession, unemployment for high school dropouts was already more than twice as high as for those with only a high school diploma – 18 per cent compared to 8.4 per cent. During the recession, the unemployment rate for Canadians aged 20 to 24 without a high school diploma rose by 20 per cent. The same age group (whose highest level of education was high school) experienced an increase in unemployment of about half that. This reflects the reality that people who have not completed high school are the first to be dismissed from a job and the last to be hired.

While rising high school graduation rates in the West is positive, more than one-third (36 per cent) of Canadians aged 16-25 do not have the literacy skills required for many of the jobs being created. This does not necessarily mean that high school graduates cannot read, but that some of them cannot interpret and evaluate multiple pieces of information.

Taking steps to increase high school completion rates – and the skills students learn in secondary education – will not only provide a competitive advantage by increasing the skilled workforce in the West. In the long run, it should also reduce provinces’ bills on social programs and health care.

– Naomi Christensen is a policy analyst at the Canada West Foundation.

[1] On-time completion means students complete and graduate from high school in the standard amount of time (three years). While the prairie provinces track completion rates over three, four, and five years, the data used for this post is on-time graduation rates only.