Number of Canadians stuck in poverty on the decline: Fraser Institute
Posted Jan 25, 2016 7:08 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A new report shows few Canadians live in poverty for extended periods of time.
In fact, Director of Fiscal Studies for the Fraser Institute Charles Lammam says the number of people suffering poverty for five straight years has been cut by more than half.
“Fortunately, only one and a half per cent of Canadians were stuck in low income every year between 2005 and 2010, which is the latest period we have data. This is down from 3.6 per cent about 20 years earlier,” he said.
Lammam says the extended poverty rate is even lower in Alberta, which enjoyed a period of wealth for much of the data collecting time period.
He says the report is based off numbers from Statistics Canada, and also dissects the reasons behind the poverty, which Lammam says is important if governments want to continue to help those trapped in the cycle.
