Data released last week by Statistics Canada show that Canada continues to be a country where very few people languish near the bottom of the income scale for long periods of time.  Indeed, these new data show that incidence of low income has decreased even further since the mid-1990s.

Last week's release is based on the Survey of Labour Income and Dynamics (SLID), which is designed to track the income of a very large sample of Canadians over six-year periods, thus enabling comparison of incomes earned by families and unattached individuals over time.  The summary in Statistics Canada's The Daily, however, fails to mention or discuss SLID's time-series aspect and presents only a snapshot of the 2006 results.

The Census release on May 1 showed an 11.1% increase in median family income (pre-tax) between 1980 and 2005. As a result of strong economic growth fostered by gains in employment, a further 2.1% increase was observed between 2005 and 2006, according to new data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics. At the same time, government transfers also increased, leading to a similar increase in after-tax family income.

Families had an estimated median income after taxes of $58,300 in 2006, up 2.1% from 2005 in real terms. It was the third consecutive annual increase.
. . .
The incidence of low income in Canada remained relatively stable in 2006. An estimated 3.4 million Canadians (or 10.5%) lived in low income (after-taxes) in 2006.

To find the time-series analyses, one must dig deeper in Statistics Canada's website.  I'll describe that more fully later in this post.  Right now, let's cut to the data.

For purposes of this data release, low income is measured by the low-income cut-off (after taxes and government transfers), or LICO.  (As Statistics Canada has repeatedly affirmed, the LICO is a measure of income inequality, not poverty—an admonition that is frequently and annoyingly ignored by poverty "activists" and opposition politicians.)

The proportion of Canadians who did not fall below the LICO at any time during the years 1993-1998 was 75.5%.  That fell slightly during 1996-2001 to 74.6%, but then jumped to 80.0% during 1999-2004.

All age groups (except 55-64) and both sexes saw increasing percentages with incomes above the LICO throughout the period 1999-2004 compared to 1993-1998.  (For those aged 55-64, the percentage declined from 77.6% to 77.3%.)  Moreover, Canadians at all education levels—from less than high school through university degree—were less likely to fall below the LICO in 1999-2004.

During the same time period, the proportion of Canadians experiencing persistent low income fell by over 30%.  Between 1993 and 1998, 3.6% had incomes below the LICO every year, dropping to 3.4% in 1996-2001, and then to 2.2% in 1999-2004.  Without exception, all age groups, both sexes, and those at all education levels were less likely to experience six years of below-LICO income in 1999-2004 compared to 1993-1998.

These new data bolster an earlier Statistics Canada study (blogged here) demonstrating that Canadians have lower rates of low income than do people in the US, Britain, or Germany.

Statistics Canada last week posted some 40 tables of time-series data showing income trends in Canada back to 1976 but, as I said, they're not easy to find, especially for those unfamiliar with Statistics Canada's labyrinthine website.  As a public service, Magic Statistics has done the digging for you.

We start back at The Daily, where the last line of text reads:

Also available today, the 2006 Income Trends in Canada (13F0022XIE, free) provides 40 tables at the Canada and province level as well as some data at the census metropolitan area level.

That link takes you to a page describing the data product along with a link to another page, styled "Income Trends in Canada 1976 to 2006".  In the left sidebar of that page, click on "data tables" to go to another page where nine sets of data tables are listed and linked.  Click on one of those links to go to yet another page where the corresponding tables can be downloaded.

We’re not out of the woods yet, however: there's another wrinkle. The data tables can only be read with a software product called "Beyond 20/20".  You can download the Beyond 20/20 Browser from Statistics Canada; but I, for one, would find it much easier if the data were loaded into Excel spreadsheets.  Also, Beyond 20/20 is only available in Windoze versions.  What a pain!

Once the tables are opened in Beyond 20/20, they can be exported to Excel.

The data discussed above come from Low Income table 2020807 — "Persistence of low income, by selected characteristics, Canada and provinces".

Sources:

Statistics Canada, 2008.  "Income of Canadians".  The Daily, 5 May.  Statistics Canada catalogue no. 11-001-XIE.
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/080505/d080505a.htm
(accessed 13 May 2008).

Statistics Canada, 2008.  "Income trends in Canada: data tables".  Released 5 May, no catalogue number.
http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/13F0022XIE/2006000/nettabletitles-en.htm
(accessed 13 May 2008).

Previous related posts: