Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
Symbol of the Government of Canada

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

www.hrsdc.gc.ca

Low Income in Canada: 2000-2007 Using the Market Basket Measure - August 2009

6. High Risk Groups

The previous section has identified the importance of a family's MIR recording significant annual hours of paid work to reduce the risk of experiencing both annual and persistent low income. In this section, we examine a number of other socio-demographic groups identified by research as being particularly likely to experience persistent low income. Footnote 23

These groups, designated as «high risk» groups, are lone parents with at least one child under age 18; unattached individuals aged 45 to 64; persons with work-limiting physical or mental disabilities; recent immigrants (those who came to Canada within the past 10 years); and Aboriginal Canadians living off-reserve. Footnote 24 An economic family where the MIR is a member of any of these groups is said to be a high-risk family. Footnote 25

6.1 Incidence

In 2007, the incidence of low income, using the MBM, for all working-age economic families was 15.4%. However, as Table 4a shows, for families whose MIR belonged to at least one of the high risk groups the incidence of low income averaged 26.5%. This was almost three times higher than the 9.0% rate for economic families where the MIR was not a member of a high-risk group. In families where the MIR belonged to more than one high risk group (e.g. an unattached individual 45 to 64 with work–limiting disabilities) the incidence of low income was much higher (44.3%). If they belonged to only one high risk group the incidence was lower (20.2%) (These data are not shown in Table 4a).

Table 4a
Incidence of Low Income (%): MBM Working-Age Families By High Risk Group Status of MIR
MIR by risk group status 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
All MIRs 18-64 19.7 18.6 18.2 17.9 18.5 17.8 17.2 15.4
Lone Parents 38.6 37.4 41.0 38.9 38.6 32.1 30.7 26.6
Unattached 45-64 42.2 39.1 35.4 33.3 35.5 35.2 33.8 32.8
Work-Limited Disabled 42.5 42.0 37.0 35.1 37.8 35.0 32.8 32.5
Recent Immigrants 30.9 30.6 30.8 30.2 32.3 27.7 24.0 22.3
Aboriginals Off-Reserve 31.5 30.4 27.6 28.9 27.8 27.3 28.5 22.1
High Risk Group Member 35.9 34.5 32.3 30.6 32.3 29.7 28.4 26.5
Not High Risk Group Member 11.8 11.3 10.5 10.9 11.1 11.2 10.1 9.0

 

Table 4b
Incidence of Low Income (%): MBM Children in Working-Age Families By High Risk Group Status of MIR
Children < 18 by Risk group status of MIR 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
All Children (in families where MIR is 18-64 17.9 16.4 16.4 16.1 16.3 15.1 14.3 11.9
Lone Parents 42.1 39.4 44.6 42.7 42.7 36.6 33.6 28.7
Work- Limited Disabled 33.5 32.6 28.5 28.4 29.1 24.2 25.9 26.2
Recent Immigrants 41.7 39.6 31.2 30.6 33.4 28.2 28.3 26.8
Aboriginals Off-Reserve 32.6 29.8 31.0 30.3 30.3 29.2 30.8 19.9
High Risk Group Member 36.4 34.7 33.0 32.8 33.1 28.4 27.7 23.6
Not High Risk Group Member 9.8 8.7 8.1 8.2 8.4 8.6 7.1 5.7

Between 2000 and 2007 for families where the MIR was a member of at least one high-risk group the incidence of low income fell from 35.9% to 26.5%.

There was a statistically significant decline in the incidence of low income over this period for four of the five high-risk groups. The exception was recent immigrants. Footnote 26 The higher risk of experiencing low income in the high risk groups is reflected by their disproportionate share of persons living in low income. In 2007, 38.1% of all working-age families had as their MIR a member of a high risk group. But 64.4% of low-income working age families had as their MIR a member of a high-risk group. Similarly, 37.2% of all children under age 18 were in families where the MIR was a member of a high risk group. But a full 70.7% of low-income children were in such families (data not shown in table).

6.2 Depth

The depth of low income for families headed by non-high risk group members was the same as the depth for those whose MIR was a high risk group member (Tables 5a). Among the five high risk groups, the depth of low income was smallest for families where the MIR was a lone-parent and largest for families where the MIR was an unattached individual aged 45 to 64. There was no statistically significant difference in the depth of low income for children under age 18 by type of high risk group status, but children whose MIR was not in a high-risk group had a lower depth of low income (20.8%) than those whose MIR was in a high-risk group (27.3%) (Table 5b).

Table 5a
Depth of Low Income (%) MBM MIRs 18-64 by High Risk Group
MIRs 18-64 by risk group status 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
All MIRs 18-64 37.8 36.9 36.6 36.6 37.0 37.8 37.1 37.6
Lone Parents 27.4 27.9 27.6 29.5 27.9 28.5 26.8 30.9
Unattached 45-64 42.8 38.4 36.6 37.0 39.4 38.8 41.2 40.4
Work-Limited Disabled 35.7 32.8 32.9 34.1 35.9 33.7 34.9 37.3
Recent Immigrants 32.0 34.1 39.8 30.2 30.5 35.9 32.4 34.7
Aboriginals Off-Reserve 34.7 34.9 36.4 38.8 38.0 36.4 33.9 38.5
High Risk Group Member 35.7 34.1 34.4 34.3 35.3 35.3 35.8 38.2
Not High Risk Group Member 39.3 40.5 39.5 38.0 39.8 41.1 39.1 38.2

 

Table 5b
Depth of Low Income (%) MBM Children in Families where MIR is 18-64 by High Risk Group
Children < 18 by risk group status of MIR 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
All Children <18 -MIR 18-64 25.9 27.1 25.6 26.2 27.4 27.7 24.6 25.4
Lone Parents 26.0 27.8 27.7 29.3 27.9 28.1 26.8 29.6
Work- Limited Disabled 27.1 27.2 25.0 28.0 26.5 25.6 24.2 26.3
Recent Immigrants 27.2 31.1 28.1 24.0 25.2 23.7 20.8 20.8
Aboriginals Off-Reserve 25.2 28.7 27.1 32.7 34.3 29.3 26.8 32.2
High Risk Group Member 26.7 28.4 26.9 28.0 27.6 26.6 24.5 27.3
Not High Risk Group Member 24.7 27.7 24.4 24.0 28.1 27.0 26.4 20.8

6.3 Persistence

As Table 6a shows, over the period 2002 to 2007, the incidence of persistent low income for all MIRs aged 18 to 59 years was 8.1%. The incidence of persistent low income over this period among the high-risk groups ranged from 14.0% for Aboriginals living off reserve to 23.0% for persons with work-limiting disabilities.

If MIRs were not a member of a high-risk group in 2002, the incidence of persistent low income from 2002 to 2007 was only 3.6%. However, it was 17.5% or almost five times higher if they were a member of at least one high risk group. By comparison, in the most recent year for which data is available (2007) the incidence of low income was three times higher for MIRs in high risk compared to those not in high risk groups (Table 4a). This shows that while members of high-risk groups are much more vulnerable to low income than other Canadians in any given year, they are far more vulnerable to persistent low income.

Table 6a
Experience of Persistent Low Income (%) 2002-2007: MBM MIRs in 2002 by High Risk Group Status
MIRs by risk group status in 2002 Low Income at least 1 Year Low Income every Year Persistent Low Income
All MIRs 18-59 25.4 3.4 8.1
Lone Parents 55.6 7.0 20.2
Unattached 45-59 40.6 11.7 20.8
Work Limited Disabled 52.3 12.0 23.0
Recent Immigrants 47.0 6.1 18.4
Aboriginals Off-Reserve 38.9 5.7 14.0
High Risk Group Member 43.4 8.0 17.5
Not High Risk Group Member 16.3 1.4 3.6

As revealed in Table 6b, depending on the risk group status of their MIR in that year, similar patterns held over the period from 2002 to 2007 for children under age 13 in 2002. Children living in lone-parent families or with a MIR who was an off-reserve Aboriginal Canadian were those most likely to experience persistent low income.

Table 6b
Experience of Persistent Low Income (%) 2002-2007: MBM Children <13 in 2002 by MIR's High Risk Group Status
Children <13 in 2002 by MIRs' Risk group status Low Income at least 1 Year Low Income every Year Persistent Low Income
All Children <13 - MIR 18-59 26.1 2.3 8.4
Lone Parents 59.7 8.3 26.4
Work Limited Disabled 48.5 1.1 10.7
Recent Immigrants 45.3 5.6 17.9
Aboriginals Off-Reserve 42.6 11.1 24.3
High Risk Group Member 46.3 5.3 17.6
Not High Risk Group Member 17.0 1.0 4.2
  • 23 See Michael Hatfield, «Vulnerability to Persistent Low Income» in Horizons, Volume 7, Number 2 (December 2004) pp. 19-26. Return to reference 23
  • 24 Aboriginal Canadians living on-reserve are even more likely than those living off-reserve to experience low income in any given year or over a period of years. However, low income thresholds are not calculated for reserves, nor are reserves included in the sample frame of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics. Return to reference 24
  • 25 Recall that families include unattached individuals as well as families of two persons or more. Return to reference 25
  • 26 Although the decline in the incidence of low income for MIRs who were recent immigrants between 2000 and 2007 was substantial (from 30.9% to 22.3%), it was still not large enough to meet the test of statistical significance described in footnote 11. Return to reference 26

Footer

Date Modified:
2011-12-14