The Correlates and Coping Strategies of Families Experiencing Poverty PDF

The Correlates and Coping Strategies of Families Experiencing Poverty in Canada CHAPTER 10 BY KERR AND MICHALSKI Family Poverty Canada is a stratified society so some families and children experience poverty while others do not Definitions and meanings of poverty vary across time and space A common...

The Correlates and Coping Strategies of Families Experiencing Poverty in Canada CHAPTER 10 BY KERR AND MICHALSKI Family Poverty Canada is a stratified society so some families and children experience poverty while others do not Definitions and meanings of poverty vary across time and space A common misperception among the general public and media is that the individual is to blame for their financial difficulties Many families like the working poor, experience poverty and job precarity, despite having jobs and living at the poverty line Certain social groups are more vulnerable to poverty than others An increasing proportion of families, including middle-class, are being squeezed financially Studies link poverty to negative and lifelong outcomes among generations of families Family Poverty The numbers: ◦ In 2021, 7.3% of the Canadian population was living in poverty, a total of 2,717,615 persons. This included 621,235 persons in deep poverty (1.7% of the population) and 2,096,390 who were living in shallow poverty (5.7% of the population). ◦ Current (2024) poverty rate is 7.4 % ◦ In 2019, unattached individuals had the highest rate of poverty in Canada. For people not in an economic family, 26.2% were living below the poverty line. The poverty rates among unattached males and females (under 65) were even higher at 30.7% and 35.6%, respectively. ◦ 17.8% of children live in poverty ◦ in 2022, around 2.1 million people were living in low income families in Canada or 11.5% of the population. ◦ 1 in 5 working adults lives below the poverty line ◦ Working-age single adults represent half of the 1.8 million Canadians living in deep poverty and have an average annual income of $11,700. According to a report, the low- income threshold is $25,252 for a single-adult household. (Jun 16, 2023). Family Poverty What does poverty look like in the media and general public? ◦ Poverty is not just a lack of riches, but rather an unequal distribution of them ◦ Poverty is a serious social problem in Canada with consequences that involve struggle and hardship in everyday life as well as over the life course But what is poverty?: Poverty in Canada refers to the state or condition in which a person or household lacks essential resources—financial or otherwise—to maintain a modest standard of living in their community. Measuring poverty: absolute and relative ◦ Absolute – a condition of mere physical survival ◦ Market Basket Measure (MBM) StatsCan uses this for meeting basic needs like necessities, amenities, meeting nutritious diet standards and regional/geographical differences, poverty rates by MBM, not low-income ◦ Relative poverty – what is considered poor relative to contemporary social standards for normal and wealthy ◦ Canada uses Low-Income Cut-Off (LICO) – higher % of income than average spent on necessities of life, and Low –Income Measure (LIM) – falling below a threshold relative to changing income of population, set at one half of the median income in a given year. Family Poverty Why are some families poorer than others? Blame the victim and social reproduction of poverty arguments: ◦ Lack of personal resources, bad behaviors and values ◦ The culture of poverty made me do it From a sociological lens-the origins of poverty must located in systems and structures: ◦ Demographics events – types of family arrangements ◦ Economic events – boom and bust capitalist cycles ◦ Political events – government transfer payments 1. Low income, family type, and number of earners- ◦ Age, gender ◦ Lone-parent families versus 2 or more income earners ◦ The feminization of poverty – single mothers and low income Family Poverty What does poverty among families later in life look like? ◦ Transfer payments Low income, family change and child poverty ◦ Do transfer payments help ◦ Subsidized day care Is a guaranteed annual income the answer to lessen poverty? It is family composition that matters the most 2. Economic events- ◦ Recessions ◦ Crisis-pandemic and housing shortage ◦ Food insecurity ◦ Shortcoming of income-based measures of poverty – no perfect association between income and wealth ◦ The new working poor category Family Poverty 3. Political events- ◦ Transfer payments ◦ Neoliberal agenda and risk culture ◦ Political parties Some trends in poverty and social groups vulnerable to poverty: ◦ Problems with measuring poverty ◦ Fluctuations in poverty rates ◦ The working poor ◦ Children ◦ Racialized communities ◦ Immigrants ◦ Indigenous populations ◦ Sexual minorities Family Poverty What are the consequences of living in poverty? How do low-income families cope with poverty? If poor Canadians can no longer rely on the state for social assistance (welfare) then what? ◦ Community support services ◦ Extended family ◦ in-kind contributions ◦ Social networks ◦ Bartering system Are food banks good in helping to sustain low-income families? ◦ In March 2024, there were over 2 million visits to food banks in Canada — the highest number in history. ◦ 46% of all food in Canada is wasted each year ◦ Food banks have become institutionalized at the same time as state aid has decreased or ceased altogether Family Poverty Conclusion: ◦ StatCan’s LICOs show that the country experienced several years of declining low- income rates and reliance on social assistance but ◦ There is still concern for children, recent immigrants, Indigenous peoples, minorities and lone-parent families especially those headed by women ◦ Even if more and more families exit from welfare or job loss, their situation has not improved ◦ Another concern is the loss of social assistance and programs to help young families at the same time as food banks and their use has increased What needs to be done from a structural level to prevent, combat family poverty??