Edmonton Social Planning Council

Category: ESPC Publications: Reports

  • Living Wage – 2019

    A living wage is rooted in the belief that individuals and families should not just survive, but live in dignity, and participate in the community. The living wage is defined as the hourly wage that a primary income earner must make to provide for themselves, their families, and reach basic financial security. It allows for a higher standard of living than what is included in the Market Basket Measure, which is based on subsistence living. The living wage includes participation in recreation, extended health and dental plan, and a minor emergency contingency fund. However, it does not include items that would allow families to “get ahead”, such as putting away savings or paying down debt.

    This is the fifth year that the Edmonton Social Planning Council has calculated Edmonton’s living wage. It is based on the Canadian Living Wage Framework (2015) created by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). Living wages are calculated across Canada, with participating communities in Alberta; Calgary, Canmore, Grande Prairie, Medicine Hat, and Red Deer calculate a living wage with their community.

    A living wage is not the same as the minimum wage. The minimum wage is the wage mandated by the provincial government that employers must pay all workers. Currently, in Alberta, the minimum wage is $15.00 per hour and $13.00 per hour for workers under the age of 18. The minimum wage is typically lower than the living wage (Government of Canada, 2017).

    ESPC Documents/PUBLICATIONS/A.06.G REPORTS/Living wage 2019 – FINAL.pdf

  • SOCIAL ISOLATION OF INDIGENOUS SENIORS – AGE FRIENDLY EDMONTON

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    [et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]The Indigenous Seniors Social Isolation report is the culmination of nearly two years of work engaging Indigenous seniors, family members and care providers in a research project to understand the issues and concerns of isolated Indigenous seniors. Guided by an advisory committee made up primarily of Indigenous leaders, service providers and scholars, the report explores and makes recommendations for ways to improve services in a culturally responsive way.

    ESPC Documents/PUBLICATIONS/A.06.G REPORTS/Social Isolation of Indigenous Seniors – Age Friendly Edmonton.pdf[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column]
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  • Alberta Child Poverty Report – 2018

    The annual Alberta Poverty Report is an annual report created by the Edmonton Social Planning Council, in partnership with Public Interest Alberta and the Alberta College of Social Workers. This report finds that Alberta remains to have the largest gap between the rich and the poor of all the provinces, with the richest 1% earning 46 times the poorest 10% of the provincial population, relative to other Canadian provinces. The purpose of this report is to inform the public and policy makers the effects of poverty, the current government’s attempts at reducing poverty, and to present the areas and programs in which they can improve on.

    Various challenges are still prevalent in Alberta despite the multiple solutions implemented by the Government of Alberta. As poverty costs Albertans about $7.1 to $9.5 billion per year, government programs that tackle the root causes of poverty can provide the necessary resources for the next generation to thrive as well as break the cycle of poverty.

    Some of the key findings in this report are as follows:

    • Over one in six Albertan children live in poverty. From 2006 to 2016, the number of children in Alberta living in poverty has grown 23.4%. Although the new Canada Child Benefit has resulted in a modest reduction of child poverty across the nation, Alberta did not have the same reduction between 2015 and 2016. 
    • Alberta is one of two provinces that does not have a provincial poverty reduction strategy, even though one was identified as a priority under the 2013 Social Policy Framework. A provincial strategy would promote real action to address poverty, including leveraging and coordinating investments, resources, government initiatives, and various communities and stakeholders.
    • Indigenous, racialized, and LGBTQ2S+ communities and women are disproportionately affected by poverty. 24.1% of Indigenous children live in poverty but the numbers may likely be higher as census data does not include children living on reserves. Moreover, 17% of visible minority children live in poverty. Similarly, LGBTQ2S+ youth are disproportionately overrepresented in the homeless population at 25%-40%.
    • Lone parent families experience higher rates of poverty compared to other family types. For instance, low-income lone parents with one child have an income that is about $13, 324 lower than the poverty line in 2016. Additional barriers faced by female-led families include unequal pay, working fewer working hours due to familial responsibilities, discrimination based on gender, race, and/or sexual orientation or identification.
    • Three-quarters of workers who benefit from the minimum wage increase are 20 years or older, with more than 40% falling within core working age of 25 to 54. A large majority of low wage earners are women, 37.2% have children, of which 12.2% are single earners.
    • Income support demand has increased by 65% since 2014. Consequently, Alberta’s income support rates are among the lowest in all of Canada. Even with a promising policy change through Bill 26, which would increase financial support for Albertans needing it, single adults receiving AISH will still be below the poverty line after the increase in 2019.
    • Despite the GoA’s efforts in ending homelessness, there are still 5,735 people experiencing homelessness, based on April 2018 Alberta point-in-time homeless count, 11% of which were under the age of 18.
    • In the two largest cities in Alberta, a significant cost is paid towards early childhood education, with the median monthly preschooler fees at $1,000 and $885, in Calgary and Edmonton, respectively.
    • Even with the Small Class Size Initiative, class sizes have not actually been reduced, which may negatively affect children’s school performance and encourage drop-out apathy from teachers. Similarly, there is a significant gap between the high school completion rate for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit students at 60.2% compared to the provincial rate of 83.4%
    • $1.2 billion of poverty costs in Alberta go towards health care. 4.5% of Albertans spend 3% or more of their income on out-of-pocket prescription drug expenses, but this is much higher for those in the lowest 25% of income earners, with 16.6% of Canadians spending more than 3% of their income on prescription drugs. In Alberta alone, about half of the population under the age of 25 are uninsured and likely a large proportion of them are ineligible for private coverage and forego public premiums.

    ESPC Documents/PUBLICATIONS/A.06.G REPORTS/Alberta Poverty Report 2018.pdf

  • CONTENDING WITH COSTS: EDMONTON LIVING WAGE 2018 UPDATE

    Income is a key determinant of standard of living and is a social determinant of health and well-being (World Health Organization, 2010). The Living Wage is intended to represent the wage required for a primary income earner to provide for themselves and their families, participate in their community, and have basic financial security (Canadian Living Wage Framework, 2015). A living wage is dissimilar from the minimum wage, which is defined as the lowest wage that the provincial government requires employers to pay all workers. Living wages are calculated for separately between jurisdictions in order to reflect the costs of living in a certain locale. Ultimately, it is a call to the private and public sector to pay substantial wages that acknowledges the requirements to live with dignity and a decent quality of life. Not only do employers and governments have a role to play, but as do service providers and community members to ensure the well-being of citizens

    ESPC Documents/PUBLICATIONS/A.06.G REPORTS/2018 Living Wage Final 2.pdf

  • Keep Investing in Alberta’s Children: The Government’s Role in Ending Child and Family Poverty

    The Edmonton Social Planning Council, Public Interest Alberta, and the Alberta College of Social Workers released a new report, “Keep Investing in Alberta’s Children: The Government’s Role in Ending Child and Family Poverty.”

    To download the report click on this button

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  • Keep Investing in Alberta’s Children: The Government’s Role in Ending Child and Family Poverty

    Prepared in partnership with the Edmonton Social Planning Council, Public Interest Alberta, Alberta College of Social Workers.

    While it is crucial for government programs to focus on poverty reduction among all vulnerable populations in the country, this report focuses specifically on child poverty. This is because when children experience poverty, they are more vulnerable to various disadvantages and barriers later in life in the areas of employment, education, health, home ownership, and others. If governments of all levels can address the root causes of poverty such as inadequate income, lack of affordable housing, violence, food insecurity, discrimination, and others, the cycle of poverty can be broken and all children in Canada could have access to the resources needed for them to thrive (Boros and Pettes, 2015). Children and teens living in poverty are also more vulnerable to experiencing poor academic achievement, dropping out of school, abuse, neglect, behavioural and emotional problems, physical health struggles, and developmental delays. These challenges are worsened by the barriers that families and children living in poverty experience when they try to access health services (American Psychological Association, 2017).

    ESPC Documents/PUBLICATIONS/A.06.G REPORTS/POVERTY REPORT 20171122v5.pdf