|
July 19, 2000
Poverty trends call for new approach in government policy
Ottawa - Canada has 1.3 million more poor households today than it did 25 years ago, according to the latest edition of The Canadian Fact Book on Poverty, released today by the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD).
"Although the poverty rate among seniors continued to drop slowly over the last two decades, it rose among the working-age population and children. The most dramatic rise in poverty rates for families between 1981 and 1997 was among those headed by younger people. The poverty rate jumped from 22% to 46% for families headed by adults under age 25, and from 12% to 19% for those headed by adults between the ages of 25 and 34 during that period," says CCSD senior policy associate and book co-author Katherine Scott.
Families led by lone mothers are a growing proportion of all families and they are also the most likely to be poor. In 1997, 56% of families headed by lone mothers were poor and they were home to 43% of poor children. Lone-mother-led families grew from 22% to 28% of all poor families between 1981 and 1997.
For 60% of the poor, poverty appears to be a temporary state, but for 40% of the poor population, poverty is likely to persist for at least five years, according to the Fact Book authors. Those more likely to remain in poverty for longer periods of time are lone-parent families, Aboriginal people, people with disabilities, members of visible minorities, and people with low levels of education.
"One of the most disturbing trends is that government taxes and transfers are no longer stemming the inequality of income between rich and poor households. A review of data from 1989 to 1998 shows that since 1994, the after-tax income divide has been growing," says CCSD Research Director Andrew Jackson.
"Canada's challenge is to build on its success in addressing poverty among seniors, and to introduce public and private policies that make paid employment and income protection more accessible to the working-age population. Poor lone-parent families are at the most obvious risk because they tend to be younger and have less formal education. The future for these families will be bleak unless we provide young mothers with more means to pursue their education and provide them with a supportive environment in which to raise their children," says Scott.
All poverty data in the Fact Book are based on Statistics Canada's low income cut-offs, considered by the CCSD to be the most reliable measure of poverty in Canada. This 210-page Fact Book is the most comprehensive analysis of the state of poverty in Canada today, and it is widely considered to be the premier source book on the topic.
Canadian Fact Book on Poverty 2000 - Related Material
Canadian Council on Social Development,
190 O'Connor Street, Suite 100,
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2R3
Tel: (613) 236-8977, Fax: (613) 236-2750, Web: www.ccsd.ca, Email: council@ccsd.ca
| 