The Social Assistance Summaries series tracks the number of recipients of social assistance (welfare payments) in each province and territory.
In this section you will find:
Alberta’s social assistance programs (description)
Social assistance is the income program of last resort. It is intended for households who have exhausted all other means of financial support. Every province and territory has its own social assistance program(s), and no two are the same. For modelling of total incomes available to social assistance recipients, visit the Welfare in Canada report.
In Alberta, there are two social assistance programs:
- Income Support; and
- Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped.
Income Support
The Income Support program provides financial benefits to individuals and families in Alberta who do not have the resources to meet their basic needs, including food, clothing, and shelter.
The caseload and beneficiary data below refers to those receiving Income Support. There are three channels through which Albertans can qualify for Income Support:
- Barriers to Full Employment – for those who cannot work due to chronic health problems or other barriers to employment;
- Expected to Work – for those looking for work, working but not earning enough, or temporarily unable to work;
- Emergency Allowance – for those with an unexpected, one-time emergency through no fault of their own (e.g., sudden eviction due to fire).
For a person with a disability to be eligible to Barriers to Full Employment under Income Support, they must have a long-term inability to participate in full employment due to multiple barriers beyond their control, or a persistent mental or physical health problem of more than six months’ duration.
Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH)
The AISH program provides financial and health-related assistance to eligible adult Albertans with a disability.
For a person with a disability to be eligible for AISH, they must have a mental or physical impairment that causes substantial limitation in their ability to earn a livelihood and is likely to affect them permanently. They must also meet criteria for income, assets, age, and residency.
How many people claim social assistance?
On average, there were just over 118,900 cases (family units and unattached single adults) receiving social assistance in Alberta during the 2022-23 fiscal year. Thirty-nine per cent (46,697) received Income Support and 61 per cent (72,230) received Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH).
Income Support had about 82,300 beneficiaries (individual claimants, their partners, and dependent children).
The total number of social assistance cases increased, on average, by over 5,100 in 2022-23. This increase came from both programs, though the majority was from Income Support.
To access data on cases and beneficiaries of social assistance in Alberta, including disaggregated data, download the spreadsheet.
Income Support
On average, there were about 46,700 cases of Income Support in 2022-23, an increase of 3,100, or over 7 per cent. The number of beneficiaries increased by about 4,700, or 6 per cent, to about 82,300.
These increases to both cases and beneficiaries followed two years of significant decreases. Both numbers had peaked in 2019-20 after six years of increases.
Within the Income Support program, on average, about 18,000 cases, or 39 per cent, and over 26,400 beneficiaries, or 32 per cent, received benefits through the Barriers to Full Employment (BFE) stream in 2022-23.
While Income Support cases and beneficiaries increased overall in 2022-23, the BFE numbers decreased from the previous year. On average, BFE cases decreased by 1,100, or 6.1 per cent, and BFE beneficiaries decreased by 1,600, or 6 per cent.
Figure 1AB: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of Income Support in Alberta, 1997 to 2022-23
Figure 2AB: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of BFE under Income Support in Alberta, 2021 to 2022-23
Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH)
During the 2022-23 fiscal year, there were, on average, just over 72,200 cases in Alberta’s AISH program. The number of cases has been rising steadily over the last two decades, with an increase of 2,000 cases on average, or just under 3 per cent, between 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Figure 3AB: Yearly cases of AISH in Alberta, 1997 to 2022-23
What proportion of the population receives social assistance?
In 2022-23, just under 4.2 per cent of people in Alberta under 65 received Income Support or AISH, which is about one in 24.
The proportion of Income Support beneficiaries decreased gradually until 2007-08, followed by a period of fluctuation between 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent from 2008-09 to 2013-14. The period starting 2014-15 saw a gradual increase, reaching a peak of 2.7 per cent in 2019-20. In 2020-21 and 2021-22, the proportion of Income Support recipients declined, followed by an increase in 2022-23 to reach 2.1 per cent of people in Alberta under 65.
The proportion of people under 65 receiving AISH has increased consistently since 1997, crossing 2 per cent for the first time in 2022-23.
Note: The total population under 65 is estimated on July 1 of the fiscal year (e.g., July 1, 2022, for 2022-23), whereas social assistance beneficiary data is for March 31 of a given year from 1997 to 2000 and fiscal year average (April to March) from 2000-01 onward.
Figure 4AB: Yearly beneficiaries of Income Support and cases of AISH as a proportion of the under-65 Alberta population, 1997 to 2022-23
Who is receiving social assistance (disaggregated data)?
This section examines the following disaggregated data:
- Cases and beneficiaries by household type;
- Beneficiaries (Income Support) and cases (AISH) by gender;
- Heads of household by gender for unattached singles and single parents;
- Heads of household by age category; and
- Cases receiving employment income
Note that the figures below represent percentages but total numbers are available.
Household type
In 2022-23, on average, the majority of cases among households were unattached singles for both Income Support and AISH, representing 66 per cent and 86 per cent, respectively. For Income Support, single parent households comprised the highest proportion of beneficiaries, representing just under 45 per cent, followed by unattached singles, representing about 38 per cent.
Among those who received BFE under Social Assistance, on average, 77 per cent of cases and just under 53 per cent of beneficiaries were unattached singles in 2022-23. Single parents were second, representing 17 per cent of cases and about 33 per cent of beneficiaries.
Figure 5AB: Percentage of cases and beneficiaries of Income Support by household in Alberta, 2021 to 22-2023
Cases
Beneficiaries
Figure 6AB: Percentage of cases and beneficiaries of BFE under Income Support by household in Alberta, 2021 to 2022-23
Cases
Beneficiaries
Figure 7AB: Percentage of cases of AISH by household in Alberta, 2021 to 2022-23
Beneficiaries (Income Support) and cases (AISH) by gender
Females were the majority of Income Support beneficiaries in 2022-23, representing 54 per cent on average. Similarly, the majority of BFE beneficiaries under Income support were female, also representing 54 per cent.
Males were the majority of AISH cases in 2022-23, representing 53 per cent on average.
Figure 8AB: Percentage of beneficiaries of Income Support by gender in Alberta, 2021 to 2022-23
Figure 9AB: Percentage of beneficiaries of BFE under Income Support by gender in Alberta, 2021 to 2022-23
Figure 10AB: Percentage of cases of AISH by gender in Alberta, 2021 to 2022-23
Gender of heads of household
In 2022-23, on average, the majority of unattached singles receiving Income Support were male, representing 54 per cent. In contrast, the majority of heads of single parent households were female, representing about 91 per cent. For households receiving BFE under Income Support, on average, 51 per cent of unattached singles were male and about 90 per cent of heads of single parent households were female.
The gender distribution was similar for heads of household receiving AISH. In 2022-23, on average, 56 per cent of unattached singles were male and just over 85 per cent of heads of single parent households were female.
Figure 11AB: Percentage of heads of unattached single and single parent households receiving Income Support by gender in Alberta, 2021 to 2022-23
Figure 12AB: Percentage of heads of unattached single and single parent households receiving BFE under Income Support by gender in Alberta, 2021 to 2022-23
Figure 13AB: Percentage of heads of unattached single and single parent households receiving AISH by gender in Alberta, 2021 to 2022-23
Age of heads of household
In 2022-23, on average, the most common age group of heads of household receiving Income Support was 30-39, representing 26 per cent. The least common was people over 60, representing 12 per cent. For heads of household receiving BFE under Income Support, the most common age group was 50-59, representing over 27 per cent, and the least common was 18-29, representing 11 per cent.
For heads of household receiving AISH, on average, the most common age group in 2022-23 was 50-59, representing 25 per cent. The least common age group was over 60 with 17 per cent.
Note: The age category data for Alberta is only for heads of household, unlike other jurisdictions, which provided data for all adult beneficiaries.
Figure 14AB: Percentage of heads of household receiving Income Support by age category in Alberta, 2021 to 2022-23
Figure 15AB: Percentage of heads of household receiving BFE under Income Support by age category in Alberta, 2021 to 2022-23
Figure 16AB: Percentage of heads of household receiving AISH by age category in Alberta, 2021 to 2022-23
Employment income
In Alberta, employment income includes money earned for an applicant or recipient from a range of sources, such as salary, wages, certain commissions, bonuses, tips, gratuities, and honoraria. Income from other sources may also be considered as employment income.
In 2022-23, on average, 5 per cent of Income Support cases had employment income. Among those that received BFE under Income Support, under 1 per cent had employment income. Cases receiving AISH were more likely to have employment income at over 16 per cent. These numbers have steadily increased since 2021.
Figure 17AB: Percentage of Income Support cases, BFE cases under Income Support, and AISH cases with employment income in Alberta, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Access to data
The data on social assistance recipients in Alberta is available for download, including:
- Total cases and beneficiaries;
- Percentage of beneficiaries relative to the total under-65 population;
- Cases and beneficiaries by household type;
- Beneficiaries (Income Support) and cases (AISH) by gender;
- Heads of household by gender for unattached single and single parent households;
- Heads of household by age category; and
- Percentage of cases receiving employment income.
Data notes
- Income Support was implemented in 2004. The data for 2002-03 and earlier is for its predecessor, the Supports for Independence program.
- The data reflects the number of cases and beneficiaries on March 31 of each year from 1997 to 2000.
- The data reflects the average number of cases and beneficiaries over the fiscal year (April to March) from 2000-01 onward.
- For all five disaggregated variables, 2021 numbers are for March 31 of that year; 2021-22 and 2022-23 numbers are fiscal year averages.
- Income Support figures do not include First Nations living on reserves. AISH figures include First Nations living on reserves.
- Figures for 1997 to 2000 are drawn from the 2008 and 2009-13 Social Assistance Statistical Reports with figures rounded to 100s.
- Figures for 2008 onwards are the actual numbers supplied by Alberta Community and Social Services.
- Income Support cases receiving employment income were identified by the following client types, all of which are required to provide proof of earnings: Self-employed, employed full-time, employed part-time. A complete list of client types and their descriptions can be found in the policy manual.
- Click here for more information about how the data is gathered.
Resources
- Download the all-Canada report as a PDF
- Download the data for Alberta
- Download the data for all of Canada
- Further breakdowns on social assistance data in Alberta can be found on the province’s website. Data on the Income Support caseload is available here and data on the AISH caseload is available here.