Statistics Canada highlights growing income gaps for older women despite increased government support
Statistics Canada released a new study examining low-income rates, income levels, and income sources among older Canadians, focusing on older women.
The study highlights significant declines in low-income rates for older men and women over the decades, with notable improvements between the late 1970s and mid-1990s.
However, throughout the period from 1976 to 2022, older women consistently had lower incomes and higher low-income rates than older men, relying more heavily on government transfers.
From 1976 to 1995, median after-tax income rose by 60.6 percent for older women (from $13,700 to $22,000 in 2022 constant dollars) and by 51.7 percent for older men (from $20,700 to $31,400).
Government transfers, including the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, and Guaranteed Income Supplement, were the primary drivers of this income growth, increasing by 68.6 percent for older women and 60.8 percent for older men.
Between 1996 and 2022, government transfers continued to rise for older women, albeit at a slower pace (+4.6 percent), while transfers for older men declined by 4.5 percent.
During this later period, market income sources such as employment income, private retirement income, and investment income became more significant, increasing by 80.6 percent for older women and 50.8 percent for older men.
Despite these shifts, government transfers accounted for 43.1 percent of older women's income in 2022, a decrease from 61.4 percent in 1976 and 58.2 percent in 1995. For older men, the share of income from government transfers fell from 35.1 percent in 1976 to 32.3 percent in 2022.
Without these transfers, the low-income rates and gender disparities would have been significantly worse.
The study highlights disparities within the older population. Older racialized women experienced the highest low-income rates under the Low-Income Measure, After Tax (LIM-AT) at 18.6 percent and the Market Basket Measure (MBM) at 9.1 percent.
Among racialized groups, older Arab women had the highest low-income and poverty rates at 31.5 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively, while older Filipino women had the lowest at 9.0 percent and 5.8 percent.
In comparison, non-racialized older women had a low-income rate of 16.7 percent and a poverty rate of 4.2 percent.
Older immigrant women also faced higher rates of low income compared to Canadian-born women.
However, established immigrant women who had lived in Canada for over 10 years had lower low-income and poverty rates (17.4 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively) than recent immigrants who arrived between 2011 and 2021 (19.8 percent and 17.4 percent).
Among non-racialized older established immigrant women, low-income rates (16.4 percent) were similar to those of Canadian-born women (16.7 percent), with slight variations in poverty rates under the MBM (5.4 percent for immigrants versus 3.8 percent for Canadian-born women).
