Low Income Trends in the 1990s

Unlike the US and some other countries, Canada has no official 'poverty line', not least because popular and expert opinion alike clashes on whether and to what extent low income should be defined in absolute terms (inability to meet basic needs) or in relative terms (distance from the community norm.) However, there is very active public interest in the changing fortunes of those at the bottom end of the income distribution. This reflects ethical concerns about social equity, as well as growing recognition of the high social and economic costs of low income in such terms as ill health and poor developmental and educational outcomes for children and youth. Statistics Canada regularly publishes data on the proportion of Canadians falling below three low income lines, soon to become four. The most familiar of these are the pre tax and post tax Low Income Cut-Offs (LICOs), which conceptually define a low income household as one which spends much more than an average equivalent household on the necessities of life - food, shelter and clothing - and thus has much lower absolute and relative 'discretionary' income than the norm. Housing costs in particular tend to swallow a very high proportion of the income of low income households. In 1998, the post tax LICO line in a large urban centre was $14,510 for a single person, and $27,890 for a family of four and the overall low income rate was 12.2%, or about 1 in 8 Canadians. (excerpt from the document)

Publication Date: 
2001