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:
Yukon’s social assistance program (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 the Yukon, the Social Assistance (SA) program provides benefits to eligible adults and children. General assistance includes amounts provided for items of basic maintenance and items of supplementary need. Discretionary aid over and above general assistance may be provided to SA recipients to meet unexpected, short-term, or emergency needs, or to non-recipients to prevent or alleviate an immediate health or safety risk.
- Items of basic maintenance consist of a basic allowance (towards the cost of food, clothing, and personal and household items) and a shelter allowance (towards the cost of shelter and utilities). The amount of support available is based on the size, composition, and geographical location of the household. Recipients may also qualify for the Yukon Supplementary Allowance (YSA)—a benefit for those excluded from the workforce due to disability or age.
- Items of supplementary need are available to recipients after six consecutive months on SA or immediately to children and YSA recipients. These items consist of allowances for needs such as transportation, telephone, laundry, winter clothing, and furniture, and a Christmas allowance, among others.
- Discretionary aid may be provided at the Director’s discretion for needs such as necessary health care services (for example, prescriptions, medical travel, dental services, optical services, and medical equipment and supplies), shelter security deposits, moving expenses, storage, employment expenses, or education expenses.
The Yukon Supplementary Allowance (YSA) is an additional $250 monthly benefit for adult recipients who are excluded from the labour force due to either being age 65 and older or a severe and prolonged disability—defined as a significant functional impairment that is expected to persist for an extended duration. Eligibility is based on the Social Assistance social worker’s determination and may require an additional self-report and/or a health practitioner’s assessment.
How many people claim social assistance?
In 2022-23, there were on average about 900 cases (families and single adults) and just under 1,260 beneficiaries (individual claimants, their partners, and dependent children) in the Yukon’s Social Assistance program. These numbers are similar to the previous year, with a slight decrease. This is the third year of decreases, after a previous period of generally increasing numbers going back to 2012.
Within the Social Assistance program, about 530 cases and 630 beneficiaries received the Yukon Supplementary Allowance (YSA) in 2022-23. This means about 59 per cent of cases and 50 per cent of beneficiaries of Social Assistance received the YSA in 2022-23.
To access data on cases and beneficiaries of social assistance in the Yukon, including disaggregated data, download the spreadsheet here.
Figure 1YT: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of Social Assistance in the Yukon, 1997 to 2022-23
Note: The data reflects the number of cases and beneficiaries on March 31 of each year from 1997 to 2018, and the average over the fiscal year (April to March) from 2018-19 onward.
Figure 2YT: Yearly cases and beneficiaries of the Yukon Supplementary Allowance (YSA) under Social Assistance, 2020-21 to 2022-23
What proportion of the population receives social assistance?
On average, 3.4 per cent of people in the Yukon under 65 received Social Assistance in 2022-23, which is about 1 in 29. Since March 2002, the proportion of recipients receiving the program has generally fluctuated between 2.9 and 4.3 per cent.
Note that this data captures Social Assistance recipients of the Yukon government program and does not account for all social assistance recipients in the territory as other providers also administer social assistance, including the federal government (through Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada) and self-governing Yukon First Nations governments.
Also, note that 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 a fiscal year average (April to March) from 2018-19 onward, and a point-in-time count on March 31 of a given year from 1997 to 2018.
Figure 3YT: Yearly beneficiaries of Social Assistance as a proportion of the under-65 population of the Yukon, 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 by gender;
- Heads of household by gender for unattached singles and single parents;
- Adult beneficiaries by age category; and
- Cases receiving employment income.
Note that the figures below represent percentages but total numbers are available.
Household type
On average, in 2022-23, unattached singles were the majority household of both cases and beneficiaries of the Yukon’s Social Assistance program, representing about 79 per cent of cases and 56 per cent of beneficiaries. Single parents were second, representing about 16 per cent of cases and 33 per cent of beneficiaries.
Among those who received YSA under Social Assistance, on average, almost 89 per cent of cases and 74 per cent of beneficiaries were unattached singles in 2022-23. Single parents were second, representing just over 7 per cent of cases and 17 per cent of beneficiaries.
Figure 4YT: Percentage of cases and beneficiaries of Social Assistance by household in the Yukon, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Cases
Beneficiaries
Figure 5YT: Percentage of cases and beneficiaries of the Yukon Supplementary Allowance (YSA) under Social Assistance by household, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Cases
Beneficiaries
Beneficiaries by gender
The majority of the Yukon’s Social Assistance beneficiaries were male representing, on average, 55 per cent in 2022-23. Similarly, the majority of YSA beneficiaries under Social Assistance were male, representing, on average, over 58 per cent in 2022-23.
Figure 6YT: Percentage of beneficiaries of Social Assistance by gender in the Yukon, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Figure 7YT: Percentage of beneficiaries of the Yukon Supplementary Allowance (YSA) under Social Assistance by gender, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Gender of heads of household
In 2022-23, on average, the majority of unattached singles receiving Social Assistance were male, representing over 64 per cent. In contrast, the majority of heads of single parent households were female, representing almost 79 per cent.
The gender distribution was similar for YSA in 2022-23. On average, 62 per cent of unattached singles were male and 77 per cent of heads of single parent households were female.
Figure 8YT: Percentage of heads of unattached single and single parent households receiving Social Assistance by gender in the Yukon, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Figure 9YT: Percentage of heads of unattached single and single parent households receiving the Yukon Supplementary Allowance (YSA) under Social Assistance by gender, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Age of adult beneficiaries
In 2022-23, on average, the most common age group of adult beneficiaries in the Yukon was 30-39, representing almost 24 per cent. The least common was people over 60, representing less than 18 per cent.
For adult beneficiaries receiving the YSA under Social Assistance, on average, the most common age group in 2022-23 was 50-59, representing close to 25 per cent, followed by people over 60, representing close to 24 per cent. The latter is partly because YSA is provided to both people with disabilities and recipients over 65. The least common age was 18-29 with less than 16 per cent.
Figure 10YT: Percentage of adult beneficiaries of Social Assistance by age category in the Yukon, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Figure 11YT: Percentage of adult beneficiaries of the Yukon Supplementary Allowance (YSA) under Social Assistance by age category, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Employment Income
In the Yukon, employment income is defined as earned income obtained through employment, and includes:
- gratuities (tips);
- income from any business carried out by the recipient;
- salary, wages, and other remuneration; and
- stipends (for example, an allowance for attending a program).
In 2022-23, on average, about 11.6 per cent of Social Assistance cases had employment income. Cases receiving the YSA under Social Assistance are more likely to have employment income at 13.5 per cent. Both numbers have steadily increased since 2020-21.
Figure 12YT: Percentage of Social Assistance cases and Social Assistance cases who receive the Yukon Supplementary Allowance (YSA) with employment income, 2020-21 to 2022-23
Access to data
The data on social assistance recipients in the Yukon 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 by gender;
- Heads of household by gender for unattached single and single parent households;
- Adult beneficiaries by age category; and
- Percentage of cases receiving employment income.
Data notes
- These numbers represent only clients served by the Yukon Government. They do not include clients served by the Government of Canada (Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada) or the self-governing First Nations that administer their own social assistance programs.
- The data for 2018-19 to 2022-23 reflects the average number of cases and beneficiaries over the fiscal year. The data for 1997 to 2018 reflects the number of cases and beneficiaries on March 31 of each year.
- In addition to female and male, in 2020-21 there were an average of 7 beneficiaries, in 2021-22 there were an average of 11 beneficiaries, and in 2022-23 there were an average of 15 beneficiaries where gender was recorded as “another gender,” “not provided,” or “prefer not to report.”
- Yukon Supplementary Allowance (YSA) data represents all cases where at least one household member is receiving the YSA benefit due to a disability or age 65+. Beneficiaries include other household members who may not be in receipt of the YSA themselves.
- Click here for more information about how the data is gathered.