belchonock / Depositphotos.com
OTTAWA — A new Statistics Canada study says nine per cent of tax filers aged 15 and older experienced persistent low income between 2016 and 2022, remaining below the low-income measure after tax for at least four of the seven years examined.
The report, released Tuesday, uses data from the 2016 census and the Longitudinal Administrative Databank to track how often people enter, exit and return to low income over time. The low-income measure after tax, known as LIM-AT, is defined as half the median adjusted income of all tax filers and their families and does not account for regional cost differences.
The study finds certain groups were significantly more likely to experience persistent low income than the overall population. People in female lone-parent families faced the highest risk at 23 per cent, followed by those without a high school diploma at 21 per cent and those who reported always having limitations in daily activities at 18 per cent.
Recent immigrants were also more vulnerable, with 17 per cent experiencing persistent low income during the period, more than double the rate for non-immigrants at eight per cent. Tax filers in racialized groups recorded a 14 per cent rate of persistent low income, compared with seven per cent among non-racialized, non-Indigenous tax filers.
Education emerged as a key factor. Tax filers without a high school diploma were three times more likely to be in low income in 2016 than those with a university degree and five times more likely to experience persistent low income over the seven-year period. Higher education levels were associated with lower rates of long-term low income across all demographic groups studied.
The research also examined short-term movement in and out of low income. Among those below the low-income threshold in 2016, 30 per cent exited low income in 2017. Exit rates were lower for people without a high school diploma and for those with long-term activity limitations, both at 21 per cent.
Of those who exited low income in 2017, 20 per cent fell back below the threshold in 2018. One in five of that group remained in low income for the rest of the study period, with higher re-entry rates among the same groups identified as having greater long-term vulnerability.
Statistics Canada says the findings highlight how education, family structure, immigration status and disability intersect with income stability over time.
Comments