Didn’t Jesus tell us that we will always have the poor?
A Review of Poverty in Canada (August 3, 2023)
To be more precise, according to Matthew 26:11, Jesus said “The poor you will always have with you. . .” (NIV) It seems clear to me that this was a statement of fact, and wasn’t a suggestion to not minister to them. Accordingly, the poor should always be top-of-mind in church ministries. And, any such ministry should start with an understanding of the extent of the problem.
We will start with some general observations about income levels. In 2020, there were 28.9 million tax filers in Canada4. The bottom half, in terms of earnings (14.4 million people), made between zero dollars and $40,7001, with a median income of $23,100. If some of these represent the only income in a family unit, finances would be quite stressed in these days of rising prices. That is a lot of people to be in such a situation.
If we look at the bottom 23% of earners (6.3 million people) we find that the earnings range from zero dollars to $20,0002. No median income level could be found for this group of people, but it would definitely be well below the upper limit. Even in a two-earner family, this would seem on the edge of, or fully immersed in poverty, more so if there are dependents (non-earners) in the household.
Helpfully, Statistics Canada has examined poverty levels on a family basis3. In 2021, there were 10.5 million family units in total4, with 3.6 million of them classified as being “in low income.” That is around a third of all families. The median income for these families was $20,100.
I had difficulty finding information on sources of income for low-income individuals. Yet, the question of whether our socialized income distribution systems helps these people meet their basic needs can be broadly surmised in a review of the bottom half of earners1. In their cases, they paid only 6.5% of all taxes paid to federal/provincial/territorial governments in Canada in 2020. Further, only 29.7% of the income they brought in was from wages and salaries, suggesting a significant contribution from government relief programs.
However, the Canadian government uses a more nuanced system of measuring poverty, one based on an ‘Individual Market Basket Measure.’ According to Statistics Canada, “The Market Basket Measure (MBM) refers to Canada's official measure of poverty based on the cost of a specific basket of goods and services representing a modest, basic standard of living developed by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)”5. In 2020, 2.9 million people were considered to be in poverty by this measure, representing only 8.0% of the total population.
I see food insecurity as a bell-weather of poverty. Statistics Canada has reported that 12.9% of the population were moderately or severely food insecure in 20217. Using a total population of around 38 million for 2021, this calculates to 4.9 million people in dire financial straits.
To summarize the above, 6.3 million people earned under $20,000 per year, 3.6 million people were classified as being in low income, and 4.9 million were food insecure. The MBM approach concludes that only 2.9 million people were considered by the government to be in poverty. As a guide, consider that, in 2019, average household ‘consumption’ expenditures (for all income levels, not including tax payments, gifts and insurance) was $68,980 per household6.
It would seem that the MBM method underestimates the real difficulties the country has in caring for its poor. Inadequate or inappropriate methods of measurement can hide issues and have significant impacts on how issues are responded to, if at all.
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1. Statistics Canada, High income tax filers in Canada, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110005501&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.1&pickMembers5B1%5D=3.10&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=2010&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2020&referencePeriods=20100101%2C20200101
2. Statistics Canada, Distribution of market, total and after-tax income of individuals, Canada
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110023801
3. Statistics Canada, After-tax low income status of census families based on Census Family Low, Income Measure, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110002001
4. Statistics Canada, Selected income characteristics of census families by family type,
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110000901
5. Statistics Canada, Individual Market Basket Measure poverty status by demographic and economic family characteristics of persons, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=9810011201
6. Statistics Canada, Household spending by household income quintile, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110022301
7. Statistics Canada, Food insecurity by economic family type, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310083401