Social Policy in Ontario

Reducing poverty among minimum wage workers in Ontario: The potential impact of the Canada Working-Age Supplement

Posted on February 16, 2023 in Social Security Policy Context

Source: Maytree.com — Authors: Garima Talwar Kapoor, Mohy Tabbara

Maytree.com – Publications
16/02/2023.  Mohy Tabbara, Garima Talwar Kapoor

To reduce the deep poverty unattached working-age single adults experience, Maytree and Community Food Centres of Canada have proposed the development of the Canada Working-Age Supplement (CWAS) by enhancing the existing Canada Workers Benefit (CWB) for unattached single adults.

Building on the analysis provided in the full report, this policy brief illustrates the impact of the CWAS on those earning minimum wage in Ontario.

It shows that the introduction of the CWAS would help full-time minimum wage workers pass the Market Basket Measure (MBM), Canada’s Official Poverty Line. For part-time minimum wage workers, the CWAS would help them pass the deep income poverty threshold, measured at 75 percent of the MBM.

Overall, the CWAS would meaningfully reduce the depth of poverty and improve the quality of life of all unattached single adults earning the minimum wage in Ontario.

Download the PDF version of the brief

https://maytree.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c3eb01d59c3f006675c997239&id=5c80a86002&e=de33f0d3f7

Recent policy publications:

• Recommendations to strengthen the social safety net for people in greatest need
  Written submission for the pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2023 federal budget.
• You can’t build Ontario on a crumbling foundation: Recommendations to strengthen the social safety net
  Written submission for the 2023 Ontario pre-budget consultations.
• Improving the incomes of Nova Scotians living in deep poverty
  Written submission for the Nova Scotia pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2023 provincial budget.
• Interpreting the data: Key takeaways from Welfare in Canada, 2021
  This policy brief provides an analysis of data published in Maytree’s Welfare in Canada, 2021 report.
• How to reduce the depth of single adult poverty in Canada: Proposal for a Canada Working-Age Supplement (CWAS)
  Proposed by Maytree and Community Food Centres Canada, the CWAS would build on the current Canada Workers Benefit, reducing the depth of poverty working-age single adults experience by up to 40 per cent.

Tags: budget, economy, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 16th, 2023 at 12:46 pm and is filed under Social Security Policy Context. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.