--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/research/holes-in-the-social-safety-net-poverty-inequality-and-social-assistance-in-canada/" title: "Holes in the Social Safety Net: Poverty, Inequality and Social Assistance in Canada" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-02T10:38:50+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-02T10:38:50+00:00" post_type: "research" summary: "" post_tag: - "Canada Workers Benefit" - "inequality" - "poverty" - "provinces" - "social assistance" - "social safety net" - "wage subsidy" - "working-age poverty" country_focus: - "Canada" province_region: - "National" research_theme: - "Economic Well-Being" - "Fiscal Policy" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/old-reports_hero_banner_bg.webp" status: "publish" --- # Holes in the Social Safety Net: Poverty, Inequality and Social Assistance in Canada Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/research/holes-in-the-social-safety-net-poverty-inequality-and-social-assistance-in-canada/ # Holes in the Social Safety Net: Poverty, Inequality and Social Assistance in Canada [Download full PDF report](https://csls.ca/pdf/csls2020-06-1.pdf) Cite this report × Cite this report as: Hillel, Inez. 2020. “Holes in the Social Safety Net: Poverty, Inequality and Social Assistance in Canada.” CSLS Research Report 2020-06. Ottawa: Centre for the Study of Living Standards. https://csls.ca/research/holes-in-the-social-safety-net-poverty-inequality-and-social-assistance-in-canada/ ## Author: - Inez Hillel Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS) ## Report 2020-06 August 2020 159 pages ## Related research [Living Standards Domain of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing Andrew Sharpe, Christopher Ross November 2011 | Report 2011-17 | 124 pages](https://csls.ca/research/living-standards-domain-of-the-canadian-index-of-wellbeing-2011-17/) [Apprenticeship in Canada: A Training System Under Siege? 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It sets the stage by reviewing trends in poverty and inequality between 1976 and 2018. The report examines the federal government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy and its success in reducing poverty for children and seniors. Working-age adults without children have experienced the smallest relative decrease in poverty and currently have the highest poverty rates among any age group. The report analyzes general eligibility criteria and work and training requirements for social assistance, and the adequacy of welfare. National trends show that welfare dependency has fallen significantly between 1998 and 2018. Other significant trends show an increase in the percentage of social assistance recipients reporting a disability, a growing proportion of single adults on welfare and a decrease in the number of families with children receiving social assistance. To reduce poverty and improve welfare adequacy, this report recommends increasing social assistance benefits, raising the minimum wage, improving earning supplements for low-wage workers and extending in-kind benefits to all low-income. Ce rapport examine le filet de sécurité sociale du Canada avant le début de la crise causée par la COVID-19 et l’effondrement des prix du pétrole. Il pose d’abord le contexte en passant en revue les tendances de la pauvreté et de l’inégalité entre 1976 et 2018. Le rapport examine la Stratégie de réduction de la pauvreté du gouvernement fédéral et son succès dans la réduction de la pauvreté chez les enfants et les aînés. Les adultes en âge de travailler sans enfants ont connu la plus faible diminution relative de la pauvreté et affichent actuellement les taux de pauvreté les plus élevés parmi tous les groupes d’âge. Le rapport analyse les critères d’admissibilité généraux et les exigences en matière de travail et de formation pour l’aide sociale, ainsi que l’adéquation des prestations d’aide sociale. Les tendances nationales montrent que la dépendance à l’aide sociale a considérablement diminué entre 1998 et 2018. D’autres tendances importantes révèlent une augmentation de la proportion de bénéficiaires de l’aide sociale déclarant une incapacité, une proportion croissante d’adultes seuls bénéficiant de l’aide sociale et une diminution du nombre de familles avec enfants bénéficiant de l’aide sociale. Afin de réduire la pauvreté et d’améliorer l’adéquation de l’aide sociale, ce rapport recommande d’augmenter les prestations d’aide sociale, de hausser le salaire minimum, d’améliorer les suppléments de revenu pour les travailleurs à faible salaire et d’étendre les prestations en nature à l’ensemble des personnes à faible revenu. [Download full PDF report](https://csls.ca/pdf/csls2020-06-1.pdf)