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Achieving the Promise Ending Poverty in Alberta. Published by: Edmonton Social Planning Council Public Interest Alberta Alberta College of Social Workers November 2012. Assessing Child and Family Poverty.
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Achieving the PromiseEnding Poverty in Alberta Published by: Edmonton Social Planning Council Public Interest Alberta Alberta College of Social Workers November 2012
Assessing Child and Family Poverty • 91,000 Alberta children under 18 years living below the low income measure (after-tax) in 2010. One in nine Alberta children lived in poverty. With the slow economic recovery, this represents a 12% decrease from 2009. • The % of young children under 6 years living in low income is higher than the under 18 child poverty rate. 48,200 young children (one in six) are living in low income families in 2010. • Children under 18 years are almost four times as likely to live in female lone-parent families as in two-parent families. • Over half (52%) of Alberta low income children under 18 are living in families where at least one parent works full-time for the entire year.
Albertans Earning $15 per hour or less, by Age GroupApril 2011 to March 2012
Solutions- Build on What’s Working • Enhance federal child tax benefits • Introduce parallel Alberta Child Benefit • Reward work (increase minimum wage and employment tax credits , implement living wage) • Support place-based initiatives • Increase and index income supports for those who can’t work • Strengthen public services (child care, education, health care, public pensions) • Deliver on 10 Year Homeless Plans • Use Homeless Plans as a model for a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy