Poverty in British Columbia: Income Thresholds, Trends, Rates, and Depths of Poverty

Petit, Gillian and Tedds, Lindsay (2020): Poverty in British Columbia: Income Thresholds, Trends, Rates, and Depths of Poverty.

Abstract

We present and assess extensive statistics regarding poverty rates and depths for Vancouver, B.C., and Canada. We show that not only are single adults in B.C. the most likely to experience poverty, but they also experience the deepest level of poverty. Both single adults and single parents who are younger (i.e., ages 18–24) are more likely to be in poverty and are deeper in poverty than single older persons (i.e., 65+) or those who live as couples. These poverty rates and depths of poverty remain high for single adults and single parents as they get older (i.e., ages 26–65), at which point the depth of poverty decreases. Lastly, poverty tends to be experienced at higher levels by women than by men when conditioning on family type. For these reasons, B.C. government will have to consider these groups in reforms focused on addressing poverty reduction targets.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Poverty, Market-basket Measure, British Columbia
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I32 - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

References

B.C. Ministry of Finance. (2019). Budget and fiscal plan 2019/20–2021/22. https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2019/pdf/2019_budget_and_fiscal_plan.pdf.

B.C. Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. (2018). B.C.’s first poverty reduction strategy. BC Gov News. https://news.gov.bc.ca/factsheets/bcs-first-poverty-reduction-strategy

Bill C-87, An Act respecting the reduction of poverty, 1st Session, 42nd Parliament, (2018).

Canada, Statistics. (2016). Low Income Lines: What they are and how they are created. (978-0-660-05647-0). https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/75f0002m/75f0002m2016002-eng.pdf?st=Tzm1kSsz.

Canadian Women's Foundation. (2018). Fact sheet: Woman and poverty in Canada. https://canadianwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Fact-Sheet-WOMEN-POVERTY-September-2018.pdf

Fortin, Nicole, Green, David A., Lemieux, Thomas, Milligan, Kevin, & Riddell, W. Craig. (2012). Canadian inequality: Recent developments and policy options. Canadian Public Policy, 38(2), 121–145. https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.38.2.121

Government of British Columbia. (n.d.). Read the what we heard report and public and stakeholder input. B.C. Poverty Reduction. https://engage.gov.bc.ca/bcpovertyreduction/read-public-and-stakeholder-input/

Government of British Columbia. (2019). TogetherBC: British Columbia's poverty reduction strategy. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/initiatives-plans-strategies/poverty-reduction-strategy/togetherbc.pdf.

Klein, Seth, Ivanova, Iglika, & Leyland, Andrew. (2017). Long overdue: Why B.C. needs a poverty reduction plan. https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/BC%20Office/2017/01/ccpa-bc_long-overdue-poverty-plan_web.pdf

Statistics Canada. (1996). Selected trend data for British Columbia; Data quality note(s) for British Columbia, 1996, 2001 and 2006 censuses. https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/92-596/P1-2.cfm?Lang=eng&T=PR&PRCODE=59&GEOCODE=59&GEOLVL=PR&TID=0

Statistics Canada. (2015). Low income definitions. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75f0011x/2012001/notes/low-faible-eng.htm

Statistics Canada. (2016). Market Basket Measure (MBM). https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/ref/dict/pop165-eng.cfm

Statistics Canada. (2017). Families, households and marital status: Key results from the 2016 Census. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/170802/dq170802a-eng.htm?HPA=1

Statistics Canada. (2019). British Columbia [Province] and Canada [Country] (table). Census Profile. 2016 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Retrieved February 7, 2020 https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=59&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&SearchText=Canada&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&type=0

Statistics Canada. (2020a). Table 11-10-0066-01 Market Basket Measure (MBM) thresholds for the reference family by Market Basket Measure region, component and base year. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110006601

Statistics Canada. (2020b). Table 11-10-0135-01: Low income statistics by age, sex and economic family type. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110013501

Statistics Canada. (2020c). Table 11-10-0136-01: Low income statistics by economic family type https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110013601

Tang, Jackie, Galbraith, Nora, & Truong, Johnny. (2019). Living alone in Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/75-006-x/2019001/article/00003-eng.pdf?st=Vpyuj-ty