15.5% of British Columbians under poverty line
Despite the province’s economic boom, low-wage statistics remain stagnant
When it comes to B.C.’s low-income earners, the latest census figures tell a tale of stagnation and a lack of progress in reducing inequality despite an economic boom.
According to Statistics Canada, 15.5 per cent of the B.C. population, or 694,960 people, were in what it called “low-income” levels in 2015, about the same as 2005’s 15.4 per cent.
But at a time when B.C.’s GDP per capita posted a 12.2 per cent increase over the same 10 years, the statistics show people in the bottom half of the income distribution are getting left behind, said senior economist Iglika Ivanova of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in B.C.
“You have a booming economy and the poverty rate is not budging at all. What this shows is that economic growth and job creation alone are not enough to tackle poverty.”
Statistics Canada uses a measurement called the low-income measure after tax, which identifies a household as low income if its income is less than half the median income of all households adjusted by family size.
The stagnant rate in B.C. also stands in stark contrast to the growth of median household income, which rose by more than 12 per cent in B.C.
This growth means people in the middle are getting some gains, said Ivanova, but in the big picture “there is a group of people that are getting left out and that’s the people at the bottom.”
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives tracks poverty levels every year based on figures from Statistics Canada’s Canadian Income Survey.
The numbers for 2015 are not surprising given the previous B.C. government’s refusal to implement a poverty reduction plan, said Ivanova. “This is just one more piece of evidence that illustrates it is really necessary and long overdue.”
Especially worrying is the increase in low-income levels for youth aged 18 to 24 (from 18.2 per cent in 2005 to 19.6 per cent in 2015), who are getting buffeted by escalating tuition fees and high cost of living, and for seniors aged 65 and older (from 12 per cent to almost 15 per cent), who are on a financial tightrope, especially if they rent, said Ivanova.
Recent measures taken by the NDP such as increasing welfare rates, eliminating tuition for adult basic education or English language programs and expanding the tuition waiver program for former kids in care count as poverty reduction measures, she said.
In the Metro Vancouver census area, 16.5 per cent of people fell into the low-income category. The national rate is 14.2 per cent. On the municipal level, Richmond, Burnaby and Vancouver had the highest prevalence of the poor.
Richmond, where the median household income is $65,241, has a low-income level of 22 per cent. Burnaby is second at about 21 per cent, while Vancouver is third at almost 19 per cent.
A map of the Vancouver CMA shows 24 census tracts where lowincome levels are greater than 30 per cent. In Vancouver, this includes the Downtown Eastside and Strathcona and the University of B.C. with its student population. There are also greater concentrations of low-income people in central and east Richmond and the Metrotown area in Burnaby.
It is unclear why the three cities have a higher proportion of low-income people, but Ivanova noted studies have shown lowincome people tend to live where housing is cheaper or near transit lines. The three cities have some of Metro Vancouver’s priciest real estate, but they are well-served with SkyTrain and bus routes.
Median household income increased everywhere in Metro Vancouver except West Vancouver, which experienced a dip of about one percentage point.