Poverty Trends - The Question of Labour

--> This Forum was turned into a podcast episode, find it HERE 

Highlights of the Forum ‘Poverty Trends - The Question of Labour, with Natalie Appleyard.

Natalie Appleyard, socio-economic policy analyst at Citizens for Public Justice, author of the Poverty Trends Report 2024, gave us fresh insights on the links between a changing labour and poverty.

• Across Canadian provinces in 2024, 60% of food insecure households were employed (with employment being their main source of income).
• Another way to look at the same thing: for people in the provinces whose main source of income is employment, 17% of all those households are experiencing food insecurity.
• 47% of people who are receiving employment insurance experience food insecurity.
• For people whose main source of income is social assistance, 69.9% of people in provinces are experiencing food insecurity.
• A couple of takeaways: employment is one of the pathways out of poverty, but it's certainly not a sure bet. And for people on social assistance, there is a gross inadequacy of support, as many experience food insecurity.

 

Labor researchers have found that the gig economy has really blossomed because of the inadequacy of wages.

Many people started precarious gig work because their main source of employment was insufficient in terms of wages.

People who are receiving social assistance sometimes find themselves in a situation where they can't afford to start working: the entry job wages are too low and they would end up having less health benefits, no paid sick leave, or have to pay for too expensive a service, like childcare.

They might be trapped in this situation where social assistance doesn't give them enough money maybe for their rent and housing but at least they have health benefits…

 

When we talk about poverty in Canada, we are fundamentally talking about people who can't access their right to an adequate standard of living.

That doesn't mean that the government has to provide everyone with a house or food or even a job but they do have to create the conditions where people can access that adequate standard of living: so that requires investments in income supports and programs and infrastructure, it requires government to use regulatory controls, for example leaning on industry and employers to make sure they aren't cutting corners.

For example, when social assistance gets raised, if rent gets raised the situation doesn’t change. It is the buying power that has to be protected.

 

The subject of guaranteed basic livable income

We've seen evidence from pilot studies that that level of financial stability has many wonderful downstream impacts: on people's Mental Health, on their ability to stay housed or to afford the food that they need.

The research shows that it doesn't make people less likely to work. It does provide some breathing room for people to maybe improve their Education and Training, to transition to a better job, and it certainly allows people to not have to take the super low wage, the precarious working condition with an abusive employer because they're so desperate.

 

It's important to also note the gendered and the racialized elements in this: women in Canada still do one and a half times more unpaid care work than men. In the economy, we still see women, gender diverse people, racialized people, people with precarious immigration status really over-represented in care work but particularly in the lower paid positions.

 

Migrant workers and temporary work permits

During the pandemic the example was shown of migrant care workers who were working in long-term care homes but had to work at multiple homes because none of their individual contracts provided them with sufficient hours or wages or sick leave.

There's a heavy involvement of Migrant workers and often seasonal workers or temporary work permits in different industries like farms and food systems, Health Care system, service Industries etc. Those with precarious immigration status are shut out from so many of our social safety net supports (even if their children are born here, they can't access the Canada child benefit), and potential victims of abuses from the employer they are tied to a contract with. They're already part of our communities, they're already providing these essential services in our economy, and it would seem just that they have the right to an adequate standard of living as well,

 

When we see these faults in our social safety net, they really impact people's ability to participate in the paid labor force and to access that adequate standard of living.