Statistics Canada says the median after-tax income of Canadian families and unattached individuals was $62,900 in 2019. That was virtually unchanged from the previous year. Saskatchewan was slightly below the national average at $62,700. That was down from $63,100 the previous year. The highest average was in Alberta at $72,500. The lowest was in Nova Scotia at $53,300.

Canada’s official poverty rate fell to about 10 per cent in 2019, down about one per cent. Stats Canada says emerging evidence for 2020 suggests that COVID-related pandemic benefits may have offset increases in low income for many families.

The federal government uses something called the Market Basket Measure for determining a poverty line. University of Regina Researcher Miguel Sanchez has said in the past that the measure is misleading; that the formula was developed by Social Services Minsters from across the country to fudge the numbers.

Stats Canada says the decline in the national poverty rate from 2018 to 2019 represents a continuation of a general downward trend in the poverty rate observed in recent years.

(CJWW)