This Metcalf Foundation report compares Toronto to other regions across Canada, for the years 2006 to 2012. Stapleton uses tax-filing data collected by the Canada Revenue Agency. Although the report reveals that the rate of increase of working poverty has moderated since the first five years of the new millennium, Stapleton identifies reasons why Toronto’s almost 11 percent increase is both perplexing and disturbing.
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The Precarity Penalty looks at the impact of rising precarious, or insecure, employment in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton. Precarious employment penalizes people across all income levels through jobs that offer lower wages, limited benefits and high levels of instability making it difficult to move onto better opportunities. The research also shows that the uncertainty of precarious jobs affects the health and well-being of individuals and families. The report concludes with tangible solutions that focus on modernizing policy and programs for today’s labour market.

Based on research undertaken by Dr. Jennifer Robson with funding from Prosper Canada, this Power Point presentation provides a descriptive overview of how low-income households have been doing financially over the past 10-15 years relative to other Canadians when it comes to income, savings, assets, debt, financial inclusion and financial strain. The evidence indicates that, while median market income levels remained largely flat from 2001 to 2011, income inequality grew slightly and wealth inequality more so. Households with low incomes typically have low liquid assets and no semi-liquid assets, leaving them with no financial safety cushion. However, lower income households are less likely to be indebted that other Canadians and typically carry lower levels of debt when they do borrow. Canadians' savings levels are historically low and more Canadians at all income levels have zero or negative net worth and use fringe financial services, suggesting that financial vulnerability is not just an issue for families with low incomes. More research is needed to better understand and counter the causes of financial vulnerability among Canadian families.
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Information on financial literacy and different populations living in or at risk of poverty in Canada (people with low incomes, youth, newcomers, people living with disabilities and Indigenous peoples) can be found at: http://www.prospercanada.org/Resources/Publications.aspx