Quick answer: On March 25, 2026, Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) published the latest edition of the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (catalogue 81-582-X2026001). The report updates teacher salary tables by province, educator demographic data, and graduation rates. The headline figure from this edition: according to the report, 64% of Canadian adults aged 25 to 64 held a college or university credential in 2025.
Last updated: June 23, 2026
When school boards, teachers' unions, and journalists need a defensible number about Canadian education, they usually reach for the same source. The PCEIP tables from Statistics Canada are the standard reference for pan-Canadian teacher salary data, educator demographics, and system-level indicators. The March 2026 edition is now available.
For teachers, the practical value of this report comes down to a few specific uses: understanding where your province sits on teacher compensation relative to the rest of Canada, having reliable numbers before a local negotiation, and tracking shifts in the educator workforce over time.
What is the PCEIP?
The Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program is produced jointly by Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC). It comes out twice a year: a March edition and an October edition, each with a distinct catalogue number.
The March 2026 edition carries catalogue number 81-582-X2026001. This is a separate publication from the October 2025 edition (81-582-X2025002). Both are valid sources, but they update different subsets of the available tables. If you need a specific table, the CMEC website (cmec.ca/260) indicates which edition last updated it.
What the March 2026 edition covers, according to the release notes:
- Annual statutory teachers' salaries in public institutions, by level of education taught and teaching experience
- Proportion of educators in public elementary and secondary schools, by sex
- Per-student expenditure
- True-cohort graduation rates
- NEET rates (young people not in employment, education, or training)
The headline finding: 64% of Canadian adults hold a post-secondary credential
The most-cited figure from this edition is the credential attainment data. According to the report, 64% of Canadian adults aged 25 to 64 held a college or university credential in 2025. For women in the same age group, the reported figure reaches 71%.
One number in this release stands out in international comparison: the report indicates that 25% of Canadians hold a college credential specifically, against an OECD average of 7%. The gap reflects how Canada classifies and counts college-level credentials. CEGEPs in Quebec and community colleges across the rest of Canada produce two-to-three year credentials that many other countries either don't have a close equivalent for or count differently in their statistical reporting.
For teachers, the relevance here is indirect but real. A population with high post-secondary attainment tends to place significant demands on the education system, and the supply pressure on teacher recruiting is unlikely to ease as more families have post-secondary experience of their own and higher expectations for the schools their children attend.
The salary tables: what they contain, and the key limitation
The salary tables are the reason most education professionals return to the PCEIP at each edition. They give annual statutory salaries drawn from collective agreements and regulations, broken down by:
- Teaching level (elementary, secondary)
- Years of experience (entry-level, mid-career, top of the grid)
- Province or territory
This structure lets you answer concrete questions: Is a secondary teacher with eight years of experience in British Columbia paid above or below the national median? How wide is the gap between Alberta's salary grid maximum and Ontario's?
There is a methodological limitation that matters before you cite any of these figures. The PCEIP salary tables are published with a two-to-three year lag. The March 2026 edition reports the most recently available data, but the reference year for that data is earlier than 2026. Statistics Canada notes this in the report's methodological documentation.
This doesn't make the data useless. It changes how you cite it. In a negotiation, stating "according to the PCEIP reference year [X]" is more defensible than citing "the 2026 PCEIP numbers" without qualification. The PCEIP tables page on the CMEC website indicates the time period covered for each table.
Educator demographics: the proportion by sex
The March 2026 edition also updates data on the proportion of educators in public elementary and secondary schools by sex. These tables document a well-known but rarely precisely quantified trend at the pan-Canadian level: the teaching workforce is predominantly female, with variation by teaching level and province.
For school administrators, this has practical implications for recruitment planning, parental leave coverage, and workforce projections. For unions, these figures support conversations about pay equity and gendered working conditions. The provincial breakdowns in the tables allow for comparisons that aren't available from any other single national source.
What this means for a working teacher
The PCEIP isn't a report you read cover to cover. It's a reference. Here are the situations where knowing it exists and how to use it matters.
Before a local negotiation. Whether the topic is base pay, a digital tool allowance, or preparation time, a number drawn from the PCEIP tables (with its reference year) carries more weight than an estimate or an anecdote. Provincial unions routinely anchor compensation discussions to these tables. The report is free to access on the Statistics Canada website.
When comparing across provinces. A teacher considering a move, or trying to understand how their province's salary grid compares to another's, can use the PCEIP breakdowns to make that comparison on consistent data. The salary grid maximum varies more across provinces than the starting salary, so looking at the full experience curve matters.
When contextualizing school decisions. When a principal or board cites budget constraints that affect classroom resources, the PCEIP per-student expenditure data lets you check where your province sits relative to the national picture. That's not confrontational. It's information.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP)?
The PCEIP is a statistical report published jointly by Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC). It comes out twice a year, in March and October, covering key education indicators across Canada: teacher salaries, educator demographics, per-student expenditure, graduation rates, and NEET rates. Data is broken down by province and territory, making interprovincial comparisons possible. The March 2026 edition carries catalogue number 81-582-X2026001.
Do the PCEIP salary tables show current teacher salaries?
No, and that's an important caveat. The salary tables are published with a two-to-three year lag relative to the publication date. When you consult the March 2026 edition, the most recent available figures correspond to an earlier reference year. Statistics Canada notes this in the report's methodological section. When citing these figures in a negotiation context, always state the reference year of the data, not the year the report was published.
What's the difference between the March 2026 and October 2025 editions of the PCEIP?
They are separate publications with different catalogue numbers. The October 2025 edition carries number 81-582-X2025002. The March 2026 edition carries number 81-582-X2026001. Each edition updates a subset of the available tables. If you need a specific table, check the CMEC website (cmec.ca/260) to see which edition most recently updated it.
How can a teacher use PCEIP data in a local negotiation?
The salary tables give annual statutory salaries by teaching level and years of experience, with provincial breakdowns. In a local negotiation about base pay, digital tool allowances, or working conditions, citing a figure drawn directly from these tables (with the reference year) is more defensible than an estimate or a secondhand account. Provincial teachers' unions regularly use these tables as an anchor. The report is freely available on the Statistics Canada website.
Why does Canada have so many more college credential holders than the OECD average?
The March 2026 PCEIP reports that 25% of Canadians hold a college credential, compared to an OECD average of 7%. Part of the explanation is the structure of Canadian post-secondary education: CEGEPs in Quebec and community colleges across the rest of Canada offer two-to-three year programs leading to credentials recognized in the labour market. This network is more developed and counted differently than equivalent programs in many European countries, where similar training often falls under a different statistical category.
Last updated: June 23, 2026
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