Reducing Lone-Parent Poverty: A Canadian Success Story

John Richards
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John Richards: Simon Fraser University

C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, 2010, issue 305

Abstract: From 1996 to 2007, the poverty rate among the two million Canadians living in lone-parent families fell by more than half – from nearly 50 percent to just over 20 percent – as measured by the low-income cutoff (LICO) rate. The proximate cause is a dramatic increase in employment and hence average market income among these families. There are several underlying factors at work. While lone-parent poverty has fallen dramatically, Canada’s overall poverty reduction since mid-1990s has been similar to other OECD countries. And, as measured by the low-income measure (LIM – the percentage living below half of the median income), Canada’s poverty rate in mid-2000s was above that of the typical OECD country. The study includes a methodological appendix on defining poverty thresholds. In addition to the LICO, the Canadian government maintains two other measures: the LIM and the market basket measure (MBM). The study recommends replacing the LICO by the LIM as the standard poverty measure.

Keywords: Social Policy; poverty; low-income cutoff (LICO); welfare; low-income measure (LIM) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I32 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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