1. Poverty and Affluence in Canada Income Inequality

2. From 1920 – 1970 the gap between the richest quintile, or 5 th of the population, and the poorest quintile narrowed Most politicians believed that income inequality existed in all societies, and therefore it must be an inherent part of human structures.

3. Inequality as a societal characteristic? However, during the 1970s the economy changed drastically. International oil prices quadrupled, resulting in increased production costs for all sectors of the economy This led to a severe worldwide recession.

4. Defining Poverty Stats Canada establishes every year what it calls the “low-income cut-off line” On average, Canadians spend 36% of their after-tax incomes on basic necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing. Stats Canada adds 20% of this figure, so that any family spending more than 56% of its total income on these necessities is below the LICO, what the media usually refers to as “the poverty line”

5. Welfare in Ontario Ontario Government reduced the level of welfare payments by 21.6% in 1995, believing that payments were too high and that they created a disincentive; that is, they discouraged some recipients from finding employment This means, the government believed that the functional repercussion, or logical outcome, of the high payments was that people receiving welfare benefits didn`t feel a need to look for work. –What are your thoughts

6. The Wage Gap Between Men & Women Women as a group have statistically and historically earned less than men. This becomes relevant when considering the number of single-earner families headed by women with low incomes. In 1998 for example, unattached employed women earned on average $31,388 while men earned $47,077

7. The Differences Stats Canada studied the wage gap and concluded that half the difference can be accounted for by differences in the following areas: –Work experience –Education –Major field of study –Occupation –Industry of employment –Supervisory responsibilities –Seniority

8. But what is responsible for the remaining wage gap