Economic and Social Reports, May 2021

Released: 2021-05-26

The May 2021 issue of Economic and Social Reports contains six articles.

Diversity in seniors' living arrangements

The disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on seniors in long-term care facilities highlights the pressing need for a better understanding of the living arrangements of the senior population. The study "Differences in living arrangements of older seniors by mother tongue" provides an overview of pre-pandemic living arrangements among Canadians aged 75 and older in diverse linguistic groups.

More than one-half of Canadians aged 75 and older whose mother tongue is Punjabi, Tamil, or Urdu lived in multigenerational households in 2016, compared with less than 5% of seniors in some groups with European-origin mother tongues. In collective living arrangements, the shares ranged from 3% for the groups with Punjabi and Gujarati mother tongues to 16% among those with English as their mother tongue, and 22% among those with French as their mother tongue.

Across mother tongue groups, senior residents in nursing homes and senior residences differed largely in official language ability and income. In nine large Asian language groups, 30% to 50% of senior residents could not speak an official language well enough to converse. Furthermore, in five groups, the median annual income of senior residents was 26% to 34% lower than that of senior residents with English as their mother tongue.

Neighbourhood characteristics and life satisfaction

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how individuals can be affected by the characteristics of their neighbourhoods. The study "Neighbourhood characteristics and life satisfaction of individuals in lower-, middle-, and higher-income families in Canadian metropolitan areas" investigates the pre-pandemic relationships between Canadians' satisfaction with their lives and a large set of neighbourhood characteristics, including population density, median income, proximity to public transit, access to parks, green space and crime.

Based on the survey responses of 46,000 individuals residing in almost 6,500 neighbourhoods across 29 census metropolitan areas, the findings showed positive correlations between life satisfaction and proximity to public transit and access to parks for those in the bottom 20% of the family income distribution—those presumably with less capacity to access neighbourhoods that meet their needs and preferences. A negative correlation was observed between crime and life satisfaction among this group.

There were no significant correlations among those in the middle 60% of income distribution. This is consistent with the expectation that people choose neighbourhoods that overall address their needs and preferences when they can afford to do so. For individuals in the top 20%, there was a positive correlation between life satisfaction and a narrower range of neighbourhood characteristics—population density and green space.

Preferences for working from home after the pandemic

Using information obtained from a supplementary question added to the February 2021 Labour Force Survey, the article "Working from home after the COVID-19 pandemic: An estimate of worker preferences" estimates the overall share of total hours during which employees might prefer working from home once the pandemic is over. The study shows that, following the pandemic, Canadian employees would prefer to work 24% of their total work hours from home. This is almost five times the overall share of total hours that Canadian employees worked from home prior to COVID-19 (5%).

The effects of child tax benefits on the income of single mothers

The article "The effects of child tax benefits on the income of single mothers" highlights the key findings of a recent study on the effects of expansions in child tax benefits on the after-tax income of single mothers. The analysis focuses on the 2015 reform to the Universal Child Care Benefit and the 2016 introduction of the Canada Child Benefit.

Prior to 2015, single women without children had higher after-tax incomes than single mothers. From 2015 onward, the income gap between these two groups of women has closed because of the increase in child benefits going to single mothers. The likelihood of single mothers having low income also declined by about 6 percentage points from 2014 to 2018.

Economic impacts of COVID-19 

Finally, information on impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on different aspects of the economy are available in the Daily release "COVID-19 impacts on productivity growth and gender differences in employment."

Products

The May 2021 issue of Economic and Social Reports, Vol. 1, no. 5 (Catalogue number36280001), is now available. This issue contains the articles "Working from home after the COVID-19 pandemic: An estimate of worker preferences," "The effects of child tax benefits on the income of single mothers," "Differences in living arrangements of older seniors by mother tongue," "Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on productivity growth in Canada," "Gender differences in employment one year into the COVID-19 pandemic: An analysis by industrial sector and firm size," and "Neighbourhood characteristics and life satisfaction of individuals in lower-, middle-, and higher-income families in Canadian metropolitan areas."

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).