Canadian welfare rolls.
I know that the use of straight cash welfare as social policy has fallen massively out of favour in liberal economies over the past 20 years... with mixed results for actual human welfare. But I have to say I was surprised to read today (pdf, p.93) about the extent of straight welfare replacement in Canada. Canadian rolls fell from over 3 million in 1995 to only 1.7 million in 2004. Based on the numbers in the 2006 Statistical Abstract, that's a larger percentage decline in total recipients of cash benefits (not just AFDC/TANF recipients, but including SSI recipients) than the U.S. experienced between 1995 and 2002. And that's despite the fact that, despite the federal government permitting time-limiting in 1995, no provinces have chosen yet to extensively do so.
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In the U.S., the availability of the earned income tax credit plays a part, as does the availability of Social Security disability payments. Are there Canadian equivalents?
bruce -- see my comment at Ezra's. The short answer is "yes". Canada's system is really geared toward making people take jobs; other benefits are fairly conditional on earning income and there's no real earnings or asset exemption in most provinces. The problem is that now the people left on welfare are people who really need to be there, and their levels of benefits are shabby, often less than half of Canada's (already low, though not as low as the US povery line) LICO.
Also, regarding the question of disability payments under social security (CPP in Canada): I had to do some reading up on the subject. But like for social security, you qualify by working enough -- basically by working the minimum amount in four of the previous six years. The average U.S. disability social security benefit (about $850/month though is a lot higher than the flat-rate SSI payment (about $575 a month). That doesn't seem to be the case in Canada; the average disability CPP payment was $750/month last year, but it varies depending on previous earnings between about $400 and $1100 Cdn (that's higher than the average CPP retirement benefit though. Our public pension program is much smaller overall). The average is about the same for the welfare benefit -- about $9000 a year in most provinces, though lower in a few provinces and higher up north. The earnings exemption is more generous under CPP than for welfare in most provinces. And there's no wealth means test as there is for needs-tested welfare; you can save money without losing your CPP. But the actual benefit leaves you extremely poor if you can't work and don't have other income.
Laura, you've been tagged
http://kevinswoodshed.blogspot.com/2006/06/eight-random-things-about-me-having.html
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