Edmonton Social Planning Council

Tag: Income

  • Blog: International Equal Pay Day 

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    By Mariska Konnik 

    International Equal Pay Day was established in 2019 by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and falls on September 18th annually. (1) It was created as a response to the undervaluing of work typically done by women and the difficulties in tackling pay inequality that exists all across the globe. (1) Through creating International Equal Pay Day as an established global event, the UN General Assembly urges individuals to unite in collective action to support equal pay for work of equal value and see it as a worthwhile goal. (1)  

    What exactly does equal pay look like?  

    Equal pay means that both women and men have the right to receive equal compensation for work of equal value, and that women and men working in similar positions should receive the same pay. (1)

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    Despite this seemingly simple definition, the issue of equal pay is one that is extremely complex and pervasive within society today. This can be demonstrated through the gender pay gap, and how it still exists worldwide, even here in Canada. Looking at Canadian statistics, on average, women workers earn between 69 to 87 cents for every dollar earned by men. (2) This figure only represents the average; the pay gap is wider for Indigenous women, women with disabilities, women with children, and women of color, to name a few. (2) The gender pay gap also exists in a wide range of jobs. For example, women in executive, high paying positions still make 56% less on average than their male counterparts. (5) The gap widens further for women of color who make about 32% less than non-visible minority women. (5) Similarly, in fields such as agriculture, law, dentistry, and engineering, the gender wage difference stands at about 30-40% in Canada as of 2018. (7) All these examples demonstrate how pervasive the gender pay gap is and how it exists across a variety of different fields, affecting women in various career paths. Furthermore, the gender pay gap persists despite there currently being more women than men pursuing university degrees. (5) Regardless of the progress in women’s education attainment, and an increasing rate of women in the labor force, efforts to close the gender pay gap have barely begun. (4)  

    Ending the gender pay gap is a significant and urgent problem within our society as it is one of the root causes of gendered poverty. (5) A direct consequence of the pay gap is women being more vulnerable to low income than men in Canada. (5) The pay gap holds a significant impact on women’s economic wellbeing, with consequences such as limited pensions upon retirement or being stuck in poverty despite working. (3) Poverty can increase rates of victimization and lead to women being trapped in dangerous situations as lack of income or housing options are considerable barriers to women being able to escape abusive relationships. (3)  

    What are some options for reducing and abolishing the gender pay gap worldwide?  

    According to Catalyst, an organization that focuses on women in the workplace, pay equity and increasing the representation of women in higher paying positions are key to addressing and closing the gender pay gap. (6) Additionally, the Canadian Women’s Foundation suggests that prioritization of workplace flexibility, especially for mothers and caregivers; ongoing audits of compensation and gendered advancement opportunities; and implementation of pay transparency policies are essential to addressing the gender pay gap. (5)  

    Through looking at the data surrounding the gender pay gap, the target goal of the UN General Assembly’s establishment of International Equal Pay Day becomes clear. Advocacy, continuous conversation, and clear action needs to be taken in regard to the gender pay gap and by establishing it as a globally-recognized day, steps can be taken to achieve just that. 

    Reference List 

    1. UFCW Media & News. (September 14, 2021). UFCW Canada supports International Equal Pay Day – September 18. UFCW Canada. https://www.ufcw.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33039:ufcw-canada-supports-international-equal-pay-day-september-18&catid=10267&Itemid=6&lang=en 
    2. NUPGE. (2021). International Equal Pay Day 2021. National Union of Public and General Employees. https://nupge.ca/content/international-equal-pay-day-2021  
    3. Women Act. (2022) Equal Pay Day in Canada. WomenAct. https://womanact.ca/equal-pay-day-in-canada/  
    4. UN Women. (September 18, 2020). Equal pay essential to build a world of dignity and justice for all, UN says, commemorating first International Equal Pay Day. United Nations. https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/09/1072722  
    5. Canadian Women’s Foundation. (March 15, 2022). The Facts about the Gender Pay Gap. Canadian Women’s Foundation. https://canadianwomen.org/the-facts/the-gender-pay-gap/  
    6. Catalyst. (September 20, 2021). The Gender Pay Gap: Ask Catalyst Express. Catalyst: Workplaces that Work for Women. https://www.catalyst.org/research/gender-pay-gap-resources/  
    7. Maclean’s. (February 18, 2018). 20 jobs that have the biggest gender wage gaps in Canada. Maclean’s https://www.macleans.ca/society/20-jobs-that-have-the-biggest-gender-wage-gaps-in-canada/#gallery/gender-pay-gap-jobs-in-canada/slide-16 

     

    Mariska Konnik is a recent graduate from the University of Alberta with a BA in Criminology. She has a passion for social justice and hopes to assist individuals within the Edmonton community by sharing information and resources. She hopes to become a lawyer to continue her passion for social justice. 

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  • Blog: Social Determinants of Health

    Blog: Social Determinants of Health

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    Canada has long been considered one of the healthiest countries in the world. However, within Canada certain groups tend to be healthier than others. These health inequalities can be partially explained by the Social Determinants of Health (SDH). SDH are socio-economic factors that positively or negatively impact health. The Government of Canada lists 12 SDH, that include income, gender, race and racism, childhood experiences, and education. These factors are all interlinked and speak to a complex web of factors that impact our health and well-being as individuals and as a community.

    The most important SDH is income as it acts as a proxy for many other SDH, and can take into account education, age, and experiences of discrimination or racism. Our health can be impacted directly the struggles associated with being in poverty. Those in low-income households are less likely to participate in physical activity, use green-spaces, or be able to afford healthy or adequate food. Because people in poverty often lack the means to participate in society, they are often socially isolated. The stress experienced from poverty can lead to impacts on our ability to make decisions, and even degrade family or neighborhood cohesion. It comes as no surprise then, that Canadians in the lowest income group are three to four times more likely than those in the highest income group to report poor mental health.

    Knowing the dire impacts that poverty might have on health, it is important to examine who is more likely to be low-income. According to the latest data released from Statistics Canada, you are more likely to be low-income if you are younger, live in a lone-parent household, or are a single adult. Doing a deeper dive, women are on average at higher risk of being low-income compared to men.

    Another key SDH is the role of race, racism, and culture. A 2013 Canadian study suggests that experiences of discrimination increase the risk of poor health and chronic disease, and that Black and Indigenous Canadians are far more likely to experience discrimination. According to the 2016 Census, those who identify as “Aboriginal” are 2.1 times more likely to be low-income compared to those who are not. In the past decade, Indigenous groups have experienced worse labour force participation outcomes than those who are not Indigenous. Similarly, visible minority groups are 1.8 times more likely to be low-income, although prevalence decreases as immigrants settle, have children, and find work. In Edmonton, unemployment rates for Black women and men are nearly two times higher than the rates for their (non-racialized?) counterparts in the rest of the population. The gap in median annual wages between Black women and women in the rest of the population is under $10,000, whereas the gap between Black men and men in the rest of the population is over $22,000.

    Untangling the social determinants of health and addressing their root causes requires a drastic reordering of how we govern and treat one another. Steps to decolonize our health care system and increase awareness and training on how to be anti-racist are critical steps in moving towards eradicating health inequalities. Government transfer programs, such as a Universal Basic Income, may have potential in addressing poor health as it relates to income. A basic income would guarantee that everyone, regardless of their work status, could meet their basic needs and live in dignity. The Canadian federal government has recently identified basic income as one of its top policy priorities. Stay tuned for more details closer to home via the Basic Income Campaign for Alberta.

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  • Blog: The Renewed Push for a Basic Income During the COVID-19 Pandemic

    Blog: The Renewed Push for a Basic Income During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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    Basic income is an old idea that is getting renewed and fresh attention as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before the pandemic occurred, the idea was starting to gain traction. This was observed through the candidacy of Andrew Yang seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. president, the scholarship of University of Manitoba professor Evelyn Forget, and the advocacy of former Canadian senator Hugh Segal. Now with the economic upheaval triggered by public health measures to slow the spread of the virus, basic income has catapulted from being considered a fringe idea to one garnering mainstream interest and increased public support.

    We’re even starting to see the implementation of a basic income in some form rolled out in different jurisdictions around the world as a result of the pandemic. This includes Spain, Brazil, Germany, as well as efforts to implement pilot programs in 11 major U.S. cities as a result of Stockton, California’s pilot program that has shown early signs of success. The idea is also being given consideration in Scotland. Within our own backyard, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)—an income support program implemented in April 2020 to address the loss of income and employment experienced by millions of Canadians—has even seen calls to convert it into a basic income program. While the federal government has not shown an interest in pursuing this direction thus far (they plan to transition CERB recipients to a modified form of the Employment Insurance program), it’s clear that advocacy for a basic income will not be going away anytime soon.

    At its core, basic income is about providing a certain sum of money to a country’s citizens with no strings attached. This ensures that everyone—regardless of their employment status and income levels—receives a guaranteed income so that they are able to afford the basic necessities that make life enjoyable (e.g. food, shelter, medicine, clothing, transportation, and recreation). Depending on the design of a basic income program, these cash payments could either reach everyone equally—rich, poor, or in-between—or target those with the lowest household incomes, and then progressively phase out as a household’s income rises. The idea has received support from a variety of quarters throughout history, including proponents across the ideological divide: progressive civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and conservative free-market capitalist Milton Friedman can be counted as supporters of the idea. Long-time followers of the Edmonton Social Planning Council may recall that we have advocated for some type of basic income going as far back as the 1970s, when a guaranteed annual income (with work incentives) was recommended in our 1973 report, Alternatives to Poverty and Welfare in Alberta.

    Supporters of the basic income program see it not only as a poverty reduction tool, but as a way to address other systemic problems our society has not adequately confronted, such as systemic racism and domestic violence (the rationale being that this will empower marginalized groups to achieve greater autonomy and financial security to improve their situation). Previous trials of basic income pilot programs (which include studies in Dauphin, Manitoba in the 1970s and most recently Ontario in 2018) have shown evidence of improved health and well-being among participants, by way of nutrition, mental health, housing security, better employment prospects, and improved educational outcomes.

    Amid all the buzz and activity surrounding discourse on basic income in Canada and around the world, the release of two major new reports bring forth important policy nuances to the discussion. The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Temporary Basic Income: Protecting Poor and Vulnerable People in Developing Countries makes the case for an emergency basic income as a measure to mitigate the worst immediate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on poor and near-poor households that do not have access to social assistance or insurance protection. The report presents a number of policy options available to protect vulnerable people in 132 developing countries and helps to inform a larger conversation about how to build comprehensive social protection systems. The report notes that while there has been an expansion of social protection and assistance measures implemented on a global scale, the vast majority of this spending has occurred in high-income countries (including Canada) while developing countries have lagged behind. As a result, people in developing countries are less resilient to these kinds of economic shocks.

    The World Bank’s Exploring Universal Basic Income: A Guide to Navigating Concepts, Evidence, and Practices takes a broader and more generalized approach to the basic income concept, presenting policy options and how they would align with the stated objectives of the program (i.e. a social justice initiative to address inequalities, or a measure to mitigate the negative effects of job loss due to automation). The document explores the appropriateness of a basic income program depending on the context of the country or region in question, providing options for areas where social assistance is patchy, limited, regressive, or otherwise inadequate.

    The document does not make specific recommendations for or against a basic income, but provides a compass for policy-makers to help navigate key issues, contemplate trade-offs, and offer new data and analysis to better inform choices around the appropriateness and feasibility of a basic income program.

    The World Bank and the UNDP’s reports help provide much-needed data and evidence to inform the conversation around basic income, especially for policy-makers looking to make an advocate’s hope for a more equal and just society come to fruition. The welfare and betterment of our most vulnerable populations depend on all of us to get this right.

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  • Research Update: An Alberta Guaranteed Basic Income

    Research Update: An Alberta Guaranteed Basic Income

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    Note: this is excerpted from the May 2020 edition of our “Research Update” publication. The Edmonton Social Planning Council, in collaboration with our volunteers, strives to provide stakeholders and community members with up-to-date reviews, prepared by our volunteers, on recently published social research reports and publications.

    Reviewed by Kevin Beauchamp

    Wayne Simpson and Harvey Stevens examine the potential options for an Alberta Guaranteed Basic Income (AGBI). Simpson is a research fellow and economics professor at the University of Manitoba, and Stevens is a retired Government of Manitoba senior policy analyst. This paper was published through The University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.

    Despite the economic booms Alberta has received, poverty persists in the province; an AGBI could help address this issue. Two arguments against implementing an AGBI relate to the financial costs and potential work disincentives. Simpson and Stevens propose an AGBI model that would improve the fairness of the tax system and not require significant funding, by making six currently non-refundable tax credits (NRTCs) refundable. The NRTCs proposed to be eliminated include the Basic Personal Amount, Age 65 and over, Pension Income, Education, Tuition, and Student Loan Interest, and would create an AGBI budget of $5.36 billion.

    The equation for determining the net benefit to the recipient is “Net Benefit = G – (Family Income x BRR),” where G = size of the guarantee and BRR = Benefit Reduction Rate. As BRR increases, the depth of the benefit increases but is targeted towards a smaller number of recipients. A BRR of 10% was chosen as it benefits a larger percentage of families, minimizes work disincentives, and reduces the poverty rate by 26.3%, and poverty depth by 25.3%. Annual guarantees of $6,389 would be allocated for single-parent families and $9,305 for two-parent families. Additional “top-ups” for persons with disabilities and caregivers of disabled adults were also included. When accounting for labour supply costs, the AGBI would end up costing the provincial government $154.3 million. Net benefits would be mostly distributed to individuals in the two lowest income deciles, while higher income deciles would receive a modest income reduction of approximately 2%. In general, single-parents and single persons benefit modestly at the expense of two-parent families.

    Simpson and Stevens also outline a joint Federal/Alberta GBI option. This option would remove the same NRTCs as the AGBI, along with the federal GST credit. A federally funded national GBI, with one G and BRR set for the entire country, would be complemented by a provincial GBI with its own G and BRR values. Simpson and Stevens propose a federal BRR of 15% and an Alberta BRR of 10% that would create a budget of $11.4 billion allocated for Albertans. The estimated net costs of the joint GBI would be $801.2 million.

    Federal collaboration would have a more significant impact, as federal tax credits are about 50% higher than provincial tax credits. Single-parent families would receive annual guarantees of $13,674 while two-parent families would receive over $19,000. Reductions in poverty rates (44%) and depth of poverty (54%) would be more pronounced, and the gains/losses for each income decile level would also be approximately doubled, compared to the AGBI option. The relative impacts based on family unit type would remain consistent with the AGBI option.

    A limitation to the two models is that they had to resort to the traditional method of measuring poverty, using Low Income Cut-Offs (LICOs) which have been criticized as a poverty measure; Simpson and Stevens acknowledge that the Market Basket Measure (MBM) is currently Canada’s official poverty measure. I also noted a large discrepancy in both models regarding the percentage change of disposable incomes between elderly singles and elderly couples in the lowest income decile level, with elderly couples benefiting more. The differences between single-parent/two-parent families and non-elderly singles/non-elderly couples at the same income decile level are much more modest.

    A potential flaw in these models is that disposable income losses aren’t completely progressive along income decile levels. Higher income earners would lose a smaller percentage of disposable income compared to middle-income earners. In the joint Federal/Alberta model, the 4th and 5th income decile levels, on average, would lose more disposable income in pure terms compared to the income earners above them. Further income redistribution may be necessary to increase the equity of the GBI models for middle-income earners.

    The models presented appropriately account for changes in the labour supply and tax revenue. However, if a GBI model is ever enacted, it would be worth considering the reduced costs (healthcare, social services, policing, etc.) that would likely result from a more equal society. However, these measures were beyond the scope of the research and would be very speculative at this juncture.

    Publication Source: Simpson, W. & Stevens, H. (2019). An Alberta Guaranteed Basic Income: Issues and Options. University of Calgary. Retrieved from: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/sppp/article/view/53021

    Volunteer Research Reviewer: Kevin Beauchamp spent the past year as a Human Geography student at the University of Alberta and will be entering a Master of Urban and Regional Planning program this fall. Kevin plans to explore topics such as affordable housing, social marginalization, and community development throughout his Masters studies.

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