POVERTY REPORT RELEASED — Citizens for Public Justice released a report May 4 on how the 2008-09 recession pushed poverty rates up. Representatives of CPJ at the news conference were, from left: Chandra Pasma, Joe Gunn, Kathy Vandergrift and Rebekah Sears. (CCN/Deborah Gyapong photo)

Recent recession pushed poverty rate up: report

By Deborah Gyapong

Canadian Catholic News

OTTAWA (CCN) — Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) predicts the recent 2008-2009 recession pushed the poverty rate up to 11.7 per cent in 2009, an increase of about 900,000 people.

At a May 4 news conference, CPJ released the results of a trend analysis report called Bearing the Brunt that looked at the “deep impact” the recession has had on Canadian families.

“One of the clear patterns we’ve seen across the country is that EI was totally inadequate in responding to the depth of the recession,” said CPJ policy analyst Chandra Pasma, who authored the report. “A lot of Canadians have suffered as they’ve been forced to live off credit or turn to welfare as a result.”

The report shows the recession disproportionately affected economically vulnerable people who earn $10 or less an hour. One in four workers in that category lost their jobs.

The report warned previous recessions have had effects lasting years, noting that it took eight years after the last recession for the unemployment rate to decline to its pre-recession rate. It took a whopping 14 years for the poverty rate to reach its pre-recession level, the report states. The trend analysis projects the child poverty rate to rise from 9.5 per cent in 2007 to at least 12 per cent when the 2009 figures come out.

“If we don’t pay attention to high unemployment and poverty now, we could see people suffer the consequences of the recession for years to come,” said CPJ’s board chair Kathy Vandergrift. “We need a federal poverty elimination strategy.”

The recession replaced many full-time jobs with part-time work, and increased the income gap between poor and rich Canadians, said the report.

The recession increased welfare caseloads in all 10 provinces, the report said, and saw a rise in the cost of living through a 4.9 per cent rise in food prices and a 2.3 per cent rise in the cost of rent for a two-bedroom apartment.

More information on the study can be found at www.cpj.ca/bearingthebrunt