Transcript Family type and Poverty under Different Welfare Regimes: A Comparison of Canadian Provinces and Select European Countries"

Family Type and Poverty under Different
Welfare Regimes: A Comparison of Canadian
Provinces and Select European Countries
Hicham Raïq
Paul Bernard
Axel Van den Berg
McGill
October 26th, 2011
Introduction
• Changes in Family Structure (viz. growth of single-parent
families) poses new poverty risks and thus new challenges to
welfare states
• Traditional Welfare State equipped to ensure vertical (class)
equity; new welfare state needs to ensure horizontal (between
different family types) equity as well (Fraser 2003)
• Different welfare state regimes of the Esping-Andersen variety
might be expected to respond differently
• Canada: One (‘liberal’) regime or several? Quebec’s
exceptionalism (Bernard and Saint-Arnaud 2004)
2
Research Questions
• How do Canada and the four major provinces compare to
European countries representing different welfare regimes in
terms of the overall rates of household poverty?
• How great is the difference between single-parent and twoparent families in terms of poverty rates? Do these differences
appear to reflect the different orientations of the various welfare
regimes? Where do Canada and the four major provinces line up
in this respect?
• What systematic differences in the distributions of low-income
families from acute to near poverty can be observed between the
countries and provinces?
3
Single-parenthood characteristics
• Single-parents are mainly
women
• Policies most likely to alleviate
single-parent household poverty:
child benefits and policies
supporting working women
“That’s nothing, you want to
try juggling three kids and a
full time job.”
Predictions
•
Liberal regimes: Minimal child benefit and policies supporting working women. Overall
poverty rates should be high compared to other countries and the gap between two-parent
and single-parent families should be relatively large.
Two types of ‘Conservative’ regime (Leitner 2003; Misra 2005):
• “Family Support Model” (Germany, the Netherlands): Women encouraged to maintain caregiving role, not full-time employment. Overall poverty levels moderate but single-parent
families severely disadvantaged.
• “Optional Model” (France, Belgium): Significant efforts made to support families with
children and working mothers. Overall poverty levels moderate with only slight disadvantage
for single mothers.
•
Social-democratic regimes: strong emphasis on vertical redistribution but also on supporting
working mothers. Overall poverty levels low, bi-/mono-parental poverty disparity low as
well.
•
Canadian provinces: Quebec’s recent emphasis on combatting poverty among families with
children and on supporting working mothers: from ‘liberal’ to ‘social –democratic’?
Poverty Measures
• Standard poverty: families living below 50% of
the income median
• Acute poverty: families living below 30% of the
income median
• Near-poverty: families living between 50% and
75% of income median
Data
•Luxembourg Income study (LIS) more than 200 demographic and
income variables from over 30 countries (www.lisproject.org). Data
for Canada by province.
•The national data sets are harmonized for comparative studies
through 6 points in time. We used the four most recent waves : 1990,
1995, 2000 and 2004.
•Poverty rate based on monetary disposable (i.e. post-tax and posttransfer) income.
•Following the literature single-parent families consist of one adult
(not living with another adult) in charge of at least one child under 18.
Standard poverty rate
Standard Poverty Rate (percentage households below 50%
of the median income) around 2004
Luxemburg Income Study.
Single-Parent
Household Poverty Rates, 1990-2004
Single parenthood relative poverty trough time
Relative poverty rate (percentage of housholds below
poverty rate
Standard
50% of the median income)
60.0
50.0
British C., 41.2
40.0
Ontario, 39.0
Canada, 36.6
Alberta, 36.3
UK, 30.0
30.0
France, 25.6
Quebec, 24.6
20.0
Netherlands, 17.3
10.0
Sweden, 9.1
0.0
1990
Luxemburg Income Study.
1995
2000
2004
Two-Parent
Household Poverty Rates, 1990-2004
Bi-parenthood relative poverty trough time
Relative poverty rate (percentage of housholds below
Standard
income)
medianrate
of thepoverty
50%
14
12
Ontario, 6.9
10
British C., 8.6
UK, 7.0
Netherlands, 7.4
8
Alberta, 7.3
France, 6.3
6
Canada, 5.7
4
Quebec, 2.4
Sweden, 2.3
2
0
1990
Luxemburg Income Study.
1995
2000
2004
Single-Parent Household Acute Poverty Rates, 1990-2004
Luxembourg Income study.
Two-Parent Household Acute Poverty Rates, 1990-2004
Luxemburg Income Study.
3.8
0.0
Sweden
Luxemburg Income Study.
1.2
1.8
1994
2000
France
5.8
1999
Netherlands
UK
Canada
7.5
2004
1991
Québec
Ontario
10.6
1994
Alberta
2004
5.1
15.6
9.4
1994
2000
7.4
14.0
22.3
26.7
25.6
31.4
28.4
23.7
16.7
23.8
34.1
32.1
22.5
23.4
19.8
19.9
35.5
20.3
24.2
22.6
20.3
22.0
24.2
25.7
29.7
19.1
23.8
22.7
20.1
Standard poverty
1991
2004
6.0
11.9
1991
26.2
30.5
34.6
22.0
23.1
22.2
28.9
26.0
27.9
21.7
36.9
40.3
36.3
31.4
Quasi-poverty
2000
12.8
2000
2004
8.5
7.2
1994
29.2
30.6
47.0
46.5
48.0
35.5
38.4
34.5
The three levels of poverty in different societies since the beginning 1990s
1991
14.7
3.4
2004 1.5
2000
4.2
10.6
1999
1994
8.7
7.2
1994
11.7
1991
22.0
26.2
2004
3.8
28.3
38.3
32.6
60.0
1999 2.3
36.4
35.9
3.6
14.9
23.4
17.4
20.7
22.9
24.3
1995 3.2
1991
2004 2.4
6.5
6.3
19.5
50.0
1994
1991
2005 2.7
5.0
1989
49.6
44.5
40.0
21.7
3.0 6.1
2005
10.0
9.7
30.0
2000
25.9
31.7
20.0
1995 1.5 5.3
1992
Relatively-Low-Income Rates, Single-Parent Families,
Early ‘90s to 2004/05
80.0
Acute poverty
70.0
Colombie B.
Conclusions
•
No jurisdiction (or regime type?) has managed to close the gap between lone-parent and
two-parent families. Even in Sweden the former are 4 times more likely to be poor than the
latter.
•
Some support for welfare-regime theory: Sweden does best and the UK and Canada outside
Quebec do worst.
•
But in other respects welfare state theory is not supported. Little difference between
‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ bi-parental poverty rates, France is closer to the UK than to
Holland in single-parent family poverty, the inter-family type gap is unexpectedly low in
Holland.
•
Canada outside Quebec has the highest single-parent family poverty rates and the greatest
gap between the family types (although in part because of surprisingly modest two-parent
family rates)
•
Quebec is clearly becoming a major exception to the Canadian rule, with poverty levels for
both family types somewhere between ‘liberal’ and ‘social democratic’ and acute poverty
almost eradicated, and ‘relatively-low-income’ rates comparing favourably to Sweden’s