Poverty is no more pervasive in rural Canada than it is in urban Canada, says a recent government report.
The report found that low-income residents make up about the same proportion of the population in both rural and urban Canada.
“There seems to be something of an urban myth that rural areas have much more poverty than urban areas,” said Myriam Fortin, author of the report and an analyst at Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
“Actually, depending on the model you use, it can show less poverty in rural areas so I was surprised this analysis showed them more or less the same.”
Read Also
Food can play a flavourful role in fun summer activities
Recipes – popsicles are made with lactose-free milk and yogurt so are perfect for those who can’t tolerate milk, while everyoneelse will also enjoy them
According to her report, A Comparison of Rural and Urban Workers Living in Low-Income, 8.6 percent of rural workers and 7.8 percent of urban workers lived below the low-income threshold from 2000-04.
“Furthermore, the study found that the rural working poor were in no more dire circumstances than their urban counterparts,” said a Statistics Canada bulletin accompanying the release of the study Jan. 14.
Ray Bollman of Statistics Canada’s agriculture division said the comparison between rural and urban poverty levels has changed over the years.
“In the olden days, it was true that there was a higher level of poverty in rural areas but that has not been true for some time,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Senate agriculture committee will resume its long-running hearings into rural poverty once Parliament resumes in late January.
And despite the findings of the government analysis, one of the committee themes has been that rural poverty is one of Canada’s dirty big secrets, much more extensive than Canadians realize.
“The rural poor are in many ways invisible,” the committee said in a December 2006 report that made a powerful case for more attention to a political issue.
“They don’t beg for change. They don’t congregate in downtown cores. They don’t line up at homeless shelters because with few exceptions, there are none.”
While Fortin’s report suggests the low-income problem is not as extensive in rural Canada as many Senate committee witnesses have suggested, she said rural poor have a different profile than their urban counterparts.
They are more likely to be self-employed and less likely to be receiving welfare.
“Compared with the urban working poor, the rural working poor are older, less likely to be unattached, more likely to be part of a two-earner couple with children and less likely to hold a university degree,” Fortin wrote.
“The labour market characteristics of the rural working poor are also quite different. They are working more hours than urban working poor (on average 300 hours more per year), have more work experience and are much more likely to be self-employed.”
She said these differences mean government policies to counter the fallout from low income might have to be different for rural and urban residents.
“Assistance with the cost of raising children may be more helpful in rural regions,” she wrote.
“Furthermore, self-employment is more predominant among the rural poor. As a consequence, minimum wage policies do not apply to a large segment of the rural working poor.”
