According to Statistics Canada, working poor is defined as individuals with an after-tax income below the Low Income Measure (LIM-AT), in 2013 this was $22,133 for a one-person household, and earning an annual individual working income of over $3,000. Working income is the total amount of an individual’s income for the year from employment and business, excluding losses.
Working poor is used to provide the number of individuals who are working but are not earning enough to be above the Low Income Measure.
Following the definition provided by the Metcalf Foundation (2015), a member of the working poor is someone who:
- Has an after-tax income below the Low-Income Measure (LIM)
- Has earnings of at least $3,000 a year,
- Is between the ages of 18 and 64,
- Is not a student, and
- Lives independently (i.e., excludes those working-age individuals who live with their parents, grandparents, or other family members)
According to 2015 Taxfiler data, 15,440 (or 6.0%) of Simcoe Muskoka’s population, 18 to 64 years of age, were considered working poor. This includes 13,640 in Simcoe County (or 5.9% of Simcoe County’s population) and 1,800 in the District of Muskoka (or 6.6% of Muskoka District’s population). In comparison, about 7.1% (or just over 465,720) of Ontario’s population, 18 to 64 years of age, were considered working poor. Rates for both Simcoe Muskoka and Ontario have decreased slightly since 2012, from 6.4% for Simcoe Muskoka, and 7.3% for Ontario.
