Low income and inequality

The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation dataset includes tables in an Excel and Comma-separated values (CSV) format for the national-level index (excluding the territories), as well as three provincial and two regional indexes: the Atlantic region (Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick), Quebec, Ontario, the Prairie region (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta), and British Columbia.

The User Guide for the Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) outlines uses for the index, as well as it provides a brief description of the methodology behind the development of the index. This User Guide also provides instructions on how to use the index, and lists considerations when using the CIMD data.

The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) is an area-based index which used 2016 Census of Population microdata to measure four key dimensions of deprivation at the dissemination area (DA)-level: residential instability, economic dependency, situational vulnerability and ethno-cultural composition.

The CIMD allows for an understanding of inequalities in various measures of health and social well-being. While it is a geographically-based index of deprivation and marginalization, it can also be used as a proxy for an individual. The CIMD has the potential to be widely used by researchers on a variety of topics related to socio-economic research. Other uses for the index may include: policy planning and evaluation, or resource allocation.

The low-income rate is one of the most observed indicators of well-being, used to track changes in living standards and to identify groups at risk of social exclusion. Statistics Canada does not currently publish low-income rates for the on-reserve and Territorial populations, although other organizations have developed and published their own low-income statistics using Census or National Household Survey (NHS) data. This publication examines the concepts and methodologies underlying low-income indicators with the aim of providing guidance to users who wish to examine low income on reserve or in the Territories using Census or NHS data. It underlines data quality considerations such as incomplete enumeration on reserve. Other caveats include the fact that the low-income measure does not account for differences in the cost of living, and that Statistics Canada’s definition of income excludes many non-cash sources of income.

This paper provides a brief portrait of the Canadian Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB) and WITB recipients using 2014 tax data. It first presents the main components of the WITB program. It then describes WITB recipients from demographic and income perspectives. Finally, the paper examines the impact of the WITB on low-income rates and low-income gap ratios.

This article in the Economic Insights series examines data on the financial conditions of Canadian households, focusing on recent trends related to indebtedness, income growth, and net worth. Aggregate leverage indicators are examined for the household sector as a whole, followed by a more detailed analysis of households with different income profiles in selected urban areas. This study highlights the extent to which indebtedness and household wealth differ across the country, along with the financial vulnerabilities facing low income households.

This webinar will provide you with an overview of the T1 Family File (T1FF) by discussing the population included, methodology (family formation, special tax filers, geography), typical use, Low Income Measure, and access to data.

https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/services/webinars/11220001

This note describes methodological changes made to the Market Basket Measure (MBM) in Calendar year 2019. These revisions mainly affect MBM estimates for 2008 and 2009, but they also affect the overall interpretation of the trends in the MBM over the 2000s.

The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation dataset includes tables in an Excel and Comma-separated values (CSV) format for the national-level index (excluding the territories), as well as three provincial and two regional indexes: the Atlantic region (Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick), Quebec, Ontario, the Prairie region (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta), and British Columbia.

The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) is an area-based index which used 2016 Census of Population microdata to measure four key dimensions of deprivation at the dissemination area (DA)-level: residential instability, economic dependency, situational vulnerability and ethno-cultural composition.

The CIMD allows for an understanding of inequalities in various measures of health and social well-being. While it is a geographically-based index of deprivation and marginalization, it can also be used as a proxy for an individual. The CIMD has the potential to be widely used by researchers on a variety of topics related to socio-economic research. Other uses for the index may include: policy planning and evaluation, or resource allocation.

Market Basket Measure (MBM) thresholds for the reference family by MBM region and base year. Total thresholds as well as thresholds for the food, clothing, transportation, shelter and other expenses components are presented, in current and constant dollars, annual.

Number of persons in low income, low income rate and average gap ratio by age, sex and economic family type, annual.

Low income statistics by age, sex and economic family type, annual.

Number of persons in low income, low income rate and average gap ratio by economic family type, annual.

Low income cut-offs (LICOs) before and after tax by community size and family size, in constant dollars, annual.

Low income measure (LIM) thresholds by household size for market income, total income and after-tax income, in current and constant dollars, annual.

Low income cut-offs (LICOs) before and after tax by community size and family size, in current dollars, annual.

This table provides statistics on year-over-year low-income transitions, including low income entry and exit rates, low income resistance, and low income immobility rates among Canadian taxfilers. The low income measure (LIM) is used to identify low income taxfilers. The LIM threshold is calculated as half of the median of the adjusted family after-tax income of all taxfilers and their family members. This table uses two different types of LIM: the variable LIM is based on the median total income re-calculated year, while the fixed LIM is based on the median total income in 2002 adjusted yearly by the all-items Consumer Price Index.

The low-income rate is one of the most observed indicators of well-being, used to track changes in living standards and to identify groups at risk of social exclusion. Statistics Canada does not currently publish low-income rates for the on-reserve and Territorial populations, although other organizations have developed and published their own low-income statistics using Census or National Household Survey (NHS) data. This publication examines the concepts and methodologies underlying low-income indicators with the aim of providing guidance to users who wish to examine low income on reserve or in the Territories using Census or NHS data. It underlines data quality considerations such as incomplete enumeration on reserve. Other caveats include the fact that the low-income measure does not account for differences in the cost of living, and that Statistics Canada’s definition of income excludes many non-cash sources of income.

This paper provides a brief portrait of the Canadian Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB) and WITB recipients using 2014 tax data. It first presents the main components of the WITB program. It then describes WITB recipients from demographic and income perspectives. Finally, the paper examines the impact of the WITB on low-income rates and low-income gap ratios.

This article in the Economic Insights series examines data on the financial conditions of Canadian households, focusing on recent trends related to indebtedness, income growth, and net worth. Aggregate leverage indicators are examined for the household sector as a whole, followed by a more detailed analysis of households with different income profiles in selected urban areas. This study highlights the extent to which indebtedness and household wealth differ across the country, along with the financial vulnerabilities facing low income households.

This note describes methodological changes made to the Market Basket Measure (MBM) in Calendar year 2019. These revisions mainly affect MBM estimates for 2008 and 2009, but they also affect the overall interpretation of the trends in the MBM over the 2000s.

This profile article is the first main release by Statistics Canada based on findings from the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability. It is divided into three sections - demographics, employment, and income - and provides a general snapshot on persons with disabilities to inform on emerging government priorities (such as Opportunity for All: Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy; Government of Canada, 2018) and community interest in the areas of disability prevalence, labour market participation, and income inequality.

This paper is a gender-based analysis of the effect of government transfer programs on low income in Canada between 1995 and 2016. It compares the low income situations of couples, unattached women, and unattached men. It addresses the difference in prevalence of low income among women and men by age, labour force status, education level, immigration status, Aboriginal group, and region. It also looks at how specific transfers, such as Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) benefits or federal child benefits for example, affected the rate of low income.

This Juristat article examines economic factors that differentiate those who come into contact with the justice system once, compared to those who have repeated contact. Linking justice data from the Saskatchewan re-contact analytical file and tax information from the T1 Family File, this article provides an economic and employment profile of adults who had contact with Saskatchewan police between April 2009 and March 2010. In addition, inequalities in certain measures of health and social well-being among those who had a contact with Saskatchewan police between 2009 and 2010 are also explored.

This study looks at changes introduced in 2018 to the methodology used for the census family low income measure, based on the T1 Family File (T1FF; tax filer data). By making these changes, the methodology becomes better aligned with other data sources at Statistics Canada, such as the Census of Population and the Canadian Income Survey. To account for changes in the methodology, new T1FF standard tables on the census family low income measure (after-tax income), going back to 2004 data, are introduced.

The User Guide for the Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) outlines uses for the index, as well as it provides a brief description of the methodology behind the development of the index. This User Guide also provides instructions on how to use the index, and lists considerations when using the CIMD data.

The Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) is an area-based index which used 2016 Census of Population microdata to measure four key dimensions of deprivation at the dissemination area (DA)-level: residential instability, economic dependency, situational vulnerability and ethno-cultural composition.

The CIMD allows for an understanding of inequalities in various measures of health and social well-being. While it is a geographically-based index of deprivation and marginalization, it can also be used as a proxy for an individual. The CIMD has the potential to be widely used by researchers on a variety of topics related to socio-economic research. Other uses for the index may include: policy planning and evaluation, or resource allocation.

This note discusses revised income estimates from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID). These revisions to the SLID estimates make it possible to compare results from the Canadian Income Survey (CIS) to earlier years. The revisions address the issue of methodology differences between SLID and CIS.

One key to poverty alleviation or eradication in the third world is reliable information on the poor and their location, so that interventions and assistance can be effectively targeted to the neediest people. Small area estimation is one statistical technique that is used to monitor poverty and to decide on aid allocation in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals. Elbers, Lanjouw and Lanjouw (ELL) (2003) proposed a small area estimation methodology for income-based or expenditure-based poverty measures, which is implemented by the World Bank in its poverty mapping projects via the involvement of the central statistical agencies in many third world countries, including Cambodia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, and is incorporated into the World Bank software program PovMap. In this paper, the ELL methodology which consists of first modeling survey data and then applying that model to census information is presented and discussed with strong emphasis on the first phase, i.e., the fitting of regression models and on the estimated standard errors at the second phase. Other regression model fitting procedures such as the General Survey Regression (GSR) (as described in Lohr (1999) Chapter 11) and those used in existing small area estimation techniques: Pseudo-Empirical Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (Pseudo-EBLUP) approach (You and Rao 2002) and Iterative Weighted Estimating Equation (IWEE) method (You, Rao and Kovacevic 2003) are presented and compared with the ELL modeling strategy. The most significant difference between the ELL method and the other techniques is in the theoretical underpinning of the ELL model fitting procedure. An example based on the Philippines Family Income and Expenditure Survey is presented to show the differences in both the parameter estimates and their corresponding standard errors, and in the variance components generated from the different methods and the discussion is extended to the effect of these on the estimated accuracy of the final small area estimates themselves. The need for sound estimation of variance components, as well as regression estimates and estimates of their standard errors for small area estimation of poverty is emphasized.

This report summarizes the comments received in response to a discussion paper on low income cut-offs released in January 2000.

This paper describes the issues around updating the low income cut-offs as well as Statistics Canada's findings and proposes a course of action.

Recently there has been extensive and recurring media coverage of Statistics Canada's low income cut-offs and their relationship to the measurement of poverty. At the heart of the debate is the use of the low income cut-offs as poverty lines even though Statistics Canada has clearly stated, since their publication began over 25 years ago, that they are not. The high profile recently given this issue has presented Statistics Canada with a welcome opportunity to restate its position on these issues, views which seem to have become lost in the debate.

This working presents the nature and uses of the geographic structure used by the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) and explains how statistics on low income are dependent on geographical concepts. It also describes the methodology for deriving geographic data for the Wave 1 (1993 reference year) SLID files, and improvements made for the Wave 2 (1994 reference year) release.