As the National Council of Welfare has done since 1986, in Welfare Incomes 2009 we look at the situation of four family types: a lone parent with a 2-year-old child, a couple with two children aged 10 and 15, a single person considered employable and a single person with a disability.
Chapter 1 lists the main elements of the complicated process of qualifying for welfare in Canada. Chapters 2 to 5 focus on each family type, comparing their welfare incomes over time and gauging their adequacy using two low-income measures—Low income cut-offs and the Market Basket Measure—as well as average and median incomes. Chapter 6 looks at liquid asset provisions as of January 1, 2009 and for the first time compares 1989 levels in constant dollars of 2009 to those of 2009. Earnings exemption provisions are the subject of Chapter 7, where we also look at the potential impact of the federal Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB) on welfare households with earnings.