The family budget

The average after-tax family income in 2001 was $58,000, the sixth straight year of increase and the highest in the past 20 years. Two-parent families with children fared much better than the average, taking in $64,704 in 2001, whereas lone-parent families pocketed half of that amount. Female lone-parent families recorded one of the largest increases in after-tax income with a 4.6% gain to an average of $31,200.

From 1996 to 2001, the average market income—which includes earnings from employment, private retirement pensions and investments—rose by 46% in female one-parent families. In 2001, female lone-parent families brought in just 62% of what their male counterparts did.

Improved labour market conditions mean bigger paycheques from our jobs and bigger earnings from our pensions and investments. In 1998, the market income of families surpassed levels set in 1989. The market income of families has continued to grow in each following year; in 2001, it reached almost $64,000.

Higher income, usually means higher income-tax payments. However, after increasing 6.5% in 2000, family taxes decreased by 8.2% in 2001, averaging $12,800 or 18.1% of the average family’s income.

Average government transfers paid to economic families of two or more rose 3.3% to $7,100 in 2001 after four straight years of decline. The government paid family units of all types $7.4 billion in social assistance and $11.0 billion in employment insurance benefits. Government transfers in 2001 grew for all family types, except female lone-parent families.

The number of single-earner families has been creeping downward in Canada. In 1975, about 44% of husband–wife families had a single earner; by 2001, that proportion had fallen by more than half to 20%. The sex of the breadwinner is shifting as well. In 1975, men brought home the family wages in single-earner families 96% of the time. Twenty-six years later, women were the sole earners in 27% of single-earner families.

More women are holding paid jobs than ever before. Between 1970 and 2001, the proportion of husband–wife families in which both spouses worked climbed from 42% to 66%.

Less than 8% of all Canadian families lived below the low-income cutoff in 2001. This is the smallest proportion to live in this range since 1990. Just 786,000 children were classified as low income in 2001, significantly fewer than the 1.2 million in 1996 and the lowest number and proportion in over 20 years. Low income was particularly prevalent (32%) among lone-parent families headed by a woman.