The Ongoing Increase In Lone Parent Poverty

Since 1976 there has been a huge increase in lone-parent poverty, with around 20% of lone-parent families having at least one child under the age of 16 years old, and it’s a 9% increase from 1976 to 2014. For both lone mothers and lone-fathers, the percentage has increased. However, lone mothers started to increase at the beginning, and lone-fathers followed afterwards, growing and even surpassing lone-mothers in the year 2006 and so forth, as you can see here in the chart below.

The reason why lone-parent poverty is so high is that they are the only ones who bring in an income for their family. With all the expenses of family life, childcare expenses when they leave to go to work, travel, etc. Lone-parents are very susceptible to becoming poor because their income alone just doesn’t cut it. Did you know that the poverty rate of a lone-parent family is four times more than that of couples with children?

This doesn’t mean that poverty is only a lone-parent problem. Many groups fall below Canada’s poverty line.

The crucial thing that helps decrease lone-parent poverty is government support programs such as employment insurance, child care benefits, and social assistance. Although these programs help to reduce the percentage, they don’t do all that much, especially not on their own.

Policy Strategies That Should Be Available

People in this situation have to deal with many barriers when it comes to finding work that pays enough to support themselves and their family’s needs. The majority of lone-parents who are looking for work are lone-mothers who don’t always have the right qualifications to apply for suitable jobs, so they usually work in lower-paying jobs. This can slightly benefit them because it allows for flexibility and favourable hours. But that kind of work doesn’t usually pay them enough to be able to get above the poverty line. Companies need to improve their policies in order to create strategies to overcome these issues.

To create successful strategies to help decrease the poverty line for parents, companies need to help these people break down the barriers they face. Most lone parents have similar barriers and multiples that they need to deal with daily. A couple of things to consider as a solution are making affordable child care more accessible to those in need. Another way is to create a benefits program through the Canadian Government that aids those in need absorbing the costs of child care expenses and travel when they are first stepping foot back into the work market and have minor qualifications.

Improvement in a few policies

Accessible Child Care

Most child care places mainly tend to the standard 9 to 5 employment pattern. However, for many lone parents that work shift work or whose hours extend beyond that of child care place’s opening hours, this can be difficult for them to access child care when they need to work. For this reason, many people will prevent themselves from looking for work because they don’t see how they can afford it or be able to utilize this service. The solution here is for more child care spaces around local areas. Their hours of opening can be accessible for those parents working odd hours.

Employment Insurance

The employment insurance needs to update their program and make it easier for lone parents who work low-income jobs to qualify for employment insurance. This additional safety net can be a great help, especially for parents struggling to find a decent job because of their low qualifications. Another thing is to decrease the cut back in payment when lone parents can get a couple of hours in a part-time job. This can help pull them up and afford to support their families, even if it’s just slightly.

Deductions in Child Care Expenses (CCED)

This program is available for any parent who qualifies for child care. The benefits are a tax reduction to their family’s income. But the CCED’s current design mainly benefits the parents who earn more money than the parents who have a low income—changing their design to help out the lower-income class for lone parents so that they can see some tax relief can improve their financial status. This means reducing the limit on the size of the deduction based on the parent’s income.

The Hardship on Lone Parents

The hardship that lone parents endure is tremendous, and many people don’t know or understand this. They have to deal with all the stresses of being the only one who can provide for their family, negatively impacting their physical and mental health. They also have to sacrifice a good bit of necessities, such as choosing between paying their bills or buying groceries for the family. Many times, the parents will go hungry to feed their children.

To conclude, the lone parent poverty rate is an increasing issue that can be solved by strategies that the Government of Canada and companies could help. With a few updates and changes in policies and benefit programs, these strategies can decrease the poverty line for families in a significant way. Adding more to their family benefits in Canada and reducing the qualifications needed to apply for these benefits is one of the better solutions to start with.