[Canada] Poverty myths part 3

from The Hamilton Spectator

On Friday, the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction reveals its community plan after a year of study and discussion.

In preparation, The Spectator is presenting a daily exploration of poverty in Hamilton and commonly held beliefs about its causes and consequences.

MYTH THREE:

"POOR PEOPLE JUST WON'T WORK"

Wrong. It's based on a stereotype of the poor as lazy, or drunken, or irresponsible compared to the general population.

British critic John Berger put it well when he wrote, "the modern poor are not pitied ... but written off as trash."

Here's the reality: more than one-quarter of Hamilton's poor work, but still can't reach the poverty line. To reach what Statistics Canada calls its Low Income Cut Off, a single mom with a child would have to earn $11.30 per hour. An adult with two kids would have to earn $14.11 per hour.

But within this number is a huge divide. Poor couples are much more likely to work than are poor seniors (just 3 per cent work). And immigrants, aboriginal people, women and visible minorities are all more likely to work than the typical poor Hamiltonian.

And those on welfare? Surely, they don't work. Can they even work, if they get benefits?

Actually, at least 14 per cent of the 10,205 Hamilton households on Ontario Works contained a working person in 2005. Their average pay was about $500 a month.

More than 23,000 people in Hamilton depend on Ontario Works to live. Nearly half of these (11,000 people) are job-searching or training full-time.

Another 3,500 or so are in school (excluding high school students). That's many more than the nearly 2,300 who've deferred job-related activities, due to health problems, abuse or because they are raising pre-schoolers.

Changes to Ontario Works in 1997, which required recipients to try to find employment when their kids are school-aged, has decreased the caseload. So, the stereotype of a single mom having kids for money is certainly changing.

New rules now let Ontario Works recipients keep half of their work earnings, on top of their benefits. And, while welfare doesn't come with a time limit, it's not a permanent option for most: the average time on Ontario Works is 25 months, but this varies widely between singles, who are quicker to get jobs, and single parents who take longer.

MYTH FOUR:

"IMMIGRANTS COME HERE TO SPONGE OFF OUR COUNTRY"

Think again. Even though recent immigrants are 2.5 times as likely to live in poverty as other Hamiltonians, they are also much more likely to work.

The odds of a poor Hamiltonian having a job: 1 in 4. The odds a poor, recent immigrant has one: 1 in 3.

It fits the classic immigrant story of the first generation willing to do menial work so their kids get a better life. Data from the 1980s and 1990s shows, however, that immigrants are having a harder time escaping poverty.