Personal Income by Gender

Question

A researcher is comparing the distribution of total personal income TOTINCP by gender and has found what he believes is an anomaly. For total personal income TOTINCP $150,000 or more, we find 0 women and 4,509 men, unweighted. Does this seem plausible?

Answer

This is not an anomaly at all – in 2001, female income (across Canada) and male income in the Maritimes (and territories?) was capped at $120,000. See http://equinox2.uwo.ca/dbtw-wpd/exec/dbtwpub.dll?QB0=AND&QF0=Uniqueid&QI0=C2001PUMFI+TOTINCP&MR=20&TN=Equinox&DF=UserShowVariableEN&RF=UserShowVariableEN&AC=QBE_QUERY. There are the same counts in SDA@CHASS. However, if you look in the documentation: http://prod.library.utoronto.ca:8090/datalib/codebooks/c/cc01/pumfs/ind/documentation_e_april.pdf and search 'High and Low Income Limits', there are two limits related to incomes. For females (and some males) it is L1 $120,000. That means, the maximum value in the field TOTINCP for females in the pumf is 120,000 and the maximum for some groups of males: 200,000.

Updated Product - 1996 Census: Low income data at the EA level

Question

1996 Census Low income data at the EA level

A Beyond 20/20 table called Low Income Status for Canada, Provinces and Enumeration Areas, 1996 Census, 20% sample data has been added to the DLI FTP site. This table was produced for the DLI and does not have a catalogue number. We will be receiving an ascii version of this data in the near future.

Note to users: These data on low income cut-off are for 1996 by EA. These data can be used in the context of 1996 only. They should not be compared with data from different censuses. This note also applies to the same data sets for other census years. If a comparison between censuses needs to be done, a custom tabulation needs to be requested. This special tabulation will be based on another variable that uses constant dollars for comparison purposes.

FTP: /dli/census/1996/dimensions-b2020/low_income_status_for_can-etat_du_faible_revenu_pour_le_can
Files :
lico_ea_sfr_sd-1996-ivt.zip
readme_lisezmoi.doc
readme_lisezmoi.pdf

LICO by CSD

Question

A researcher is hoping to prepare maps for the incidence of low income by CSD from 1980 forward. She has found that the 1996 and 2001 Censuses publish the incidence rate of low-income at the census division level. Is this available for previous to 1996?

Answer

There is certainly 'Incidence of low income' in the 1991 profile files at the CSD level - it's right down at the bottom of the list of characteristics in the 2B file, immediately before the household income categories. Ditto 1986. And it seems to be available in the 1981 census tract level profile file, so the prospect is good it's in the CSD-level file too. For LICO prior to 1981, it would have to be obtained via a custom tabulation.

Low Income Lone Mothers

Question

Is it possible to find a number or percentage of poor (low income or "LICO" status) lone mothers in Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax by Census Tract, or at least, an area smaller than just a CMA?

Answers

1. The lowest geography I found crossing incidence of low income and family type was at the CMA level. I did not see any standard tables with this information at a lower level. The Census PUMF would not be an alternative as the lowest level of geography is the CMA. Unless someone out there knows another source for this information, I would say cost-recovery is your only option for STC stuff.

2. This would be far too detailed a table with income in it. I am quite sure that CMA is the lowest for which standard data would be available. I am not sure about a custom table but one must remember that income is a sensitive varaible.

Percentage of People Below Poverty Line

Question

A faculty member here wants the percent of people below the poverty line in Canada and the provinces back as far as possible (ideally to the 50s, but he would be satisfied with as far back as possible).

I found an article on the Stats. Can. site entitled "On Poverty and Low Income" (http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/13F0027XIE/13F0027XIE.htm),
which I printed up for him. Essentially it states that the only thing that Stats Can does is Low Income Cut-off data, which is very different than poverty line. We found data in CANSIM based on the Low Income Cut-Offs that goes back to 1980. I also found a Low Income Cut-Off variable in the Annual Survey of Consumer Finance (SCF) which would take him back to 1973.

I also found the Canadian Social Research Links Poverty Measures Web site
(http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty.htm),
which I also referred him to. This site discusses different measures of poverty in Canada.

Is there anything obvious that I am missing, or have I covered all bases?

Responses

1) From Income division:

Consumer Income and Expenditure Division Un-catalogued (Window Cover) Publication, Released December 17, 1973: History of LICOs

LICOs were initially developed for the 1961 Census Monograph (Catalogue 99-544) "Income of Canadians" and were later used by the Economic Council of Canada in the 5th and 6th Annual Reviews. These lines were originally set at $1,500, $2,500, $3000, $3,500, and $4,000 for families of sizes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5+ respectively for 1961. Each year since 1961, these cut-offs have been updated by the CPI and the characteristics of the low income population defined by the resulting cut-offs have been presented and analysed in various reports produced by the Consumer and Expenditure Division.

Note 1: The Consumer and Expenditure Division Publication 13-207, Annual since 1971, page 72, Table 53 provides the incidence of low income among families and unattached individuals by province of residence.

Note 2: There was a paper note in the ISD binder indicating that the following low income publications, Catalogue 13-536 (1967) and Catalogue 13-553 (1969) were borrowed in the past, unfortunately, they are still missing. The content would have to be confirmed and provided by our STC Library if they still have a copy.

Consumer Income and Expenditure Division Un-catalogued (Window Cover) Publication, Released January 1986: Background

STC's LICOs were introduced in 1968 on 1961 Census income data and 1959 national family expenditure patterns. (National FMX data have only been produced for 1959, 1969 and 1978. Between these years the cut-offs could only be updated through the use of the CPI). They were updated each year from 1961 based on price changes as reflected in the CPI, and were revised in 1973 based on the next national expenditure survey, which had been taken for 1969.

2) You may also want to try this free STC publication, it is a "classic" on the subject:
http://www.statcan.ca:8096/bsolc/francais/bsolc?catno=13-551-XIB