Impact of Adding Revenue Canada Databases Under FOAEA—Part 1 Tracing For Locating Persons
Final Report

2004-FCY-10E

5.0   RECIPIENT AND PAYOR CHARACTERISTICS

The following section provides descriptive detail on the 315 cases randomly selected for this study. These cases were sent by FAMS to the FOAEA Unit between June 1998 and December 1999. This section includes demographic data on the recipient and payor, and on case characteristics including payor trace and enforcement histories. These data were collected from the electronic and hardcopy files of the cases during the study and represent the latest available information recorded at the time.

5.1   Recipient Data

5.1.1   Gender and Age

Almost all (99.7% or 314/315) of the recipients in the selected sample were women. Of these, the largest number was between the ages of 36 and 45 (see Table 4).

Table 4   Age of recipients
Age category Number %
Under 25 9 3%
26-35 100 32%
36-45 131 42%
46-55 29 9%
56-65 4 1%
66+ 1 0%
Unknown 41 13%
Total 315 100%

5.1.2   Number of Children

Most recipients had only one child; no recipient had more than four children. The average age of children in the recipient's family was 13.

Table 5   Number of children
Number of children Number of recipients %
No children 10 3%
1 child 157 50%
2 children 113 36%
3 children 29 9%
4 children 5 2%
No data 1 0%
Total 315 100 %

5.1.3   Recipient Jurisdiction

In almost 24 percent (76/315) of cases, the recipient's address was recorded on FMEP as "unknown." It is FMEP's practice to record the recipient's address as unknown if it is an RDI file where the recipient lives out of the province. This is because FMEP communicates directly with the recipient's jurisdiction, rather than the recipient. In 71 percent (225/315) of cases, the address was registered as British Columbia; in four percent of cases (14/315) it was recorded as being outside of the province. Eleven out of the fourteen recipients were recorded as living in Canada (primarily Alberta and Ontario) and one in the United States.

5.1.4   Recipient GAIN Status

Twenty-two percent of the recipients (70/315) in this group were currently receiving GAIN (income assistance), while 18 percent (57/315) had received it in the past. For 60 percent of the recipients, no GAIN history was recorded.

5.2   Payor Data

5.2.1   Gender and Age

With the exception of one person, all payors were male. Most payors were in the 36 to 45 age range.

Table 6   Age of payors
Age category Number %
Under 25 7 2%
26-35 76 24%
36-45 163 52%
46-55 57 18%
56-65 12 4%
66+ 0 0%
Unknown 0 0%
Total 315 100%

5.2.2   Payor Presumed Jurisdiction

In 76 percent (240/315) of the cases, the payor's jurisdiction was presumed or known to be in British Columbia; in eight percent (24/315) it was outside of the province. In 10 percent of cases, the jurisdiction was registered as "unknown." Of the 24 payors living outside of British Columbia, 54 percent (13/24) were living in Alberta, 25 percent (6/24) were living in Ontario and the rest were located in other provinces.

5.2.3   Payor Occupation

Occupation or occupational category was listed as "unknown" for 40 percent (127/315) of the payors. For those with known occupations, 56 percent fell within the categories of semi-skilled or unskilled workers.

Table 7   Payor occupational category
Occupational category Number %
Professional 4 2%
Managerial 8 4%
Sales 18 10%
Clerical 1 0%
Skilled worker 42 22%
Semi-skilled worker 70 37%
Service worker 9 5%
Unskilled labourer 36 19%
Total 188 99% *

* Due to rounding, percentages in tables may not indicate 100% in all cases.

5.2.4   Payor GAIN Status

While only three percent (10/315) of the payors were on GAIN currently, 44 percent (139/315) had been on GAIN in the past. Fifty-three percent (166/315) showed no record of having received GAIN. Of those 139 payors who had been on GAIN previously, 17 percent (24/139) had been on GAIN in the past year.

Of the current payors on GAIN, seven out of ten (70%) had been on GAIN for one year or less.

5.2.5   Employer Presumed Jurisdiction

In 74 percent of cases (232/315), the jurisdiction of the employer was recorded in FMEP records as "unknown;" in 23 percent (73/315) the employer was presumed to be in British Columbia; and, in three percent (10/315) the employer was outside of the province (five in Alberta, four in other provinces and one in the United States).