• Components of welfare incomes
• Changes to welfare incomes
• Adequacy of welfare incomes
• Changes to adequacy of welfare incomes

Last updated: November 2022

This resource is not intended to help individuals identify what government transfers they could be entitled to. Individuals living in New Brunswick seeking financial assistance should visit this page.

Components of welfare incomes

In New Brunswick, households that qualify for basic social assistance payments also qualify for:

• Recurring additional social assistance payments from the province;
• Federal and provincial child benefits (for households with children); and
• Federal and provincial tax credits or benefits.

Together, these components combine to form a household’s total welfare income. Households may receive less if they have income from other sources, or more if they have special health- or disability-related needs. In 2021, one example household — the single parent with one child — was also eligible for payments related to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

The table below shows the value of the welfare income components of the four example household types in New Brunswick in 2021. All four households are assumed to be living in Moncton. The child in the single parent household is two years old and the children in the couple household are ten and 15. COVID-19 pandemic-related payments are included where applicable in the table below.

Components of welfare incomes, 2021

Note: Totals may not add up due to rounding.

Total annual welfare incomes in 2021 ranged from $7,499 for the unattached single considered employable to $27,177 for the couple with two children. The total welfare income of the unattached single with a disability was $10,298 and that of the single parent with one child was $21,595.

Basic social assistance: The unattached single considered employable and the households with children received Transitional Assistance (TA) benefits, and the unattached single with a disability received Extended Benefits (EB). Basic TA and EB benefit amounts for unattached singles increased with inflation as of April 1. Amounts for unattached single households and households with children were subject to an incremental increase as of October 1.

Additional social assistance: On top of basic social assistance, three households received additional benefits. The unattached single with a disability received $1,200 ($100 per month) through the Disability Supplement, and the households with children received the Income Supplement Benefit of $1,224 (an average of $102 per month). These amounts remained unchanged in 2021.

Federal child benefits: Both households with children received the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), which increased with inflation in July 2021 from $563.75 to $569.42 per month for a child under six years of age and from $475.66 to $480.41 per month for a child aged six to 17. In addition, the single parent of one child aged two received the COVID-19 pandemic-related CCB Young Child Supplement, given to CCB-eligible families with children under the age of six, of $300 per child in January, April, July, and October.

Provincial child benefits: Both households with children received the New Brunswick Child Tax Benefit of $250 per child ($20.83 per child per month). This amount remained unchanged in 2021.

Federal tax credits / benefits: All four households received the GST/HST credit, which increased in July 2021 with inflation. The unattached single considered employable and the unattached single with a disability received $297.50 in basic GST/HST credit, while the single parent with one child received $595 and the couple with two children received $907. The single parent with one child also received the GST/HST credit supplement maximum amount of $156.

Provincial tax credits / benefits: All four households received provincial tax credits through the Home Energy Assistance Program ($100 per household per year) and the New Brunswick Harmonized Sales Tax Credit ($300 per year for the single individuals, $600 for the single parent with one child, and $800 for the couple with two children). In addition, the household with two children received the School Supplement tax credit of $100 per child per year. These amounts remained unchanged in 2021.

COVID-19 pandemic-related payments

The only pandemic-related payment available to the example Manitoba households in 2021 was received by the single parent of one child aged two, which came from the federal Canada Child Benefit Young Child Supplement of $300 per child, paid in January, April, July, and October. This amount is included in, and is not in addition to, the benefits described in the Components section above.

COVID-19 pandemic-related payments, 2021

Changes to welfare incomes

The graphs below show how the total welfare incomes for each of the four example household types in New Brunswick have changed over time. Note that the values are in 2021 constant dollars, not in nominal dollars. Using constant dollars takes into account the effect of inflation, as measured by the national Consumer Price Index, given that inflation reduces real dollar values over time.

New Brunswick’s historically very low total welfare income for the unattached single considered employable hovered at around $5,000 between 1986 and 2009. A significant increase occurred in 2010 when unattached singles became eligible for Transitional Assistance rather than Interim Assistance benefits. From 2010 to 2019, welfare income gradually declined. The increase in 2020 was largely due to COVID-19 pandemic-related payments. The decline in 2021, to $7,499, was largely due to the loss of these payments.

The total welfare income of the unattached single with a disability was in the $14,000 range until 1994, after which it fell by nearly $3,000. Since then, their welfare income has stayed relatively stable at around $10,000. The increase in 2020 and decline in 2021 were largely due first to the addition and then to the loss of COVID-19 pandemic-related payments.

Between 1989 and 2017, the welfare incomes of households with children generally increased, with some slight fluctuations. Changes to child benefits caused welfare incomes to increase between 2015 and 2017. Between 2017 and 2019, the value of these incomes declined slightly but increased again in 2020 to the highest values across the time series, which was primarily due to COVID-19 pandemic-related payments. The decrease in 2021 was primarily due to the loss of most of the value of COVID-related payments. The loss is lower for the single parent with one child due to the Canada Child Benefit Young Child Supplement, which is a new COVID-19 pandemic-related payment for 2021.

Note that while the welfare income of the single parent with one child increased in real nominal value between 2020 and 2021, the effect of inflation negated the increase.

In 2021, the welfare income of the single parent with one child was $21,595, while that of the couple with two children was $27,177.

Adequacy of welfare incomes

The adequacy of a household’s total welfare income can be assessed by comparing it to established thresholds of poverty and/or low income.

In Canada, there are two commonly used measures of poverty:

• The Market Basket Measure (MBM), Canada’s Official Poverty Line, identifies households whose disposable income is less than the cost of a “basket” of goods and services that represent a basic standard of living.
• Deep Income Poverty (MBM-DIP) identifies households whose disposable income is less than 75 per cent of the MBM.

There are also two commonly used measures of low income:

• The Low Income Measure (LIM) identifies households whose income is substantially below what is typical in society (less than half of the median income).
• The Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) identifies households that are likely to spend a disproportionately large share of their income on the necessities of food, clothing, and shelter.

Note that MBM thresholds vary by province and community size, and LICO thresholds vary by community size, and so those for Moncton are used in the analysis below. As well, both the MBM and LIM thresholds for 2021 are estimates based on increasing the 2020 thresholds to account for inflation.

Note also that none of the poverty or low-income measures currently in use in Canada account for the higher cost of living faced by persons with disabilities, and thus these additional costs are not reflected in our analysis.

More information about the thresholds is available in the methodology section.

A table containing comparisons of the welfare incomes of the four example household types in New Brunswick with all four poverty / low-income thresholds is available for download.

Poverty threshold comparisons

The figures below compare 2021 welfare incomes for the four example household types to the MBM and MBM-DIP thresholds for Moncton.

The welfare incomes of all four example household types in New Brunswick were below, and in some cases very far below, Canada’s Official Poverty Line in 2021, which means that all four households were living in poverty. All four households were also living in deep poverty in 2021, as defined by the MBM-DIP.

The unattached single considered employable had the lowest income relative to the poverty thresholds. Their income was $9,305 below the deep income poverty threshold and $14,906 below the poverty line. This means their income was only 45 per cent of the MBM-DIP and only 33 per cent of the MBM.

The unattached single with a disability fared somewhat better, with an income that was $6,506 below the deep income poverty threshold and $12,107 below the poverty line. In other words, their income was 61 per cent of the MBM-DIP and 46 per cent of the MBM.

Note that the poverty experienced by persons with disabilities is under-represented, given that neither the MBM nor the MBM-DIP account for the additional costs associated with disability.

The incomes of households with children were closer to the poverty thresholds compared to the incomes of the unattached single households.

The single parent with one child fared best relative to the poverty thresholds. Their income was $2,168 below the deep income poverty threshold and $10,089 below the poverty line. This means their income was 91 per cent of the MBM-DIP and 68 per cent of the MBM.

The income of the couple with two children was $6,429 below the deep income poverty threshold and $17,631 below the poverty line. In other words, their income was 81 per cent of the MBM-DIP and 61 per cent of the MBM.

Low-income threshold comparisons

The welfare incomes of the example households in New Brunswick were very low relative to the low-income thresholds. In one instance, the welfare income was as low as roughly one-quarter of the threshold. The data is shown in the table linked above.

The lowest income relative to these thresholds was that of the unattached single considered employable, whose total welfare income was only 27 per cent of the LIM and 39 per cent of the LICO. The highest was that of the single parent with one child, whose welfare income was 56 per cent of the LIM and 92 per cent of the LICO. The unattached single with a disability had an income of 37 per cent of the LIM and 53 per cent of the LICO. The income of the couple with two children was 49 per cent of the LIM and 75 per cent of the LICO.

Changes to adequacy of welfare incomes

The graphs below show the total welfare incomes of each of the four example household types in New Brunswick as a percentage of the Market Basket Measure (MBM), starting in 2002. The MBM has been updated twice since its creation in 2000, first in 2008 and again in 2018. This “rebasing” updates the measure, including the items and costs included in the basket, to better reflect contemporary circumstances.

Three trendlines for each household are shown, which correspond to the relationship between welfare incomes and the original and rebased MBMs. Rebasing typically creates a higher poverty threshold than that of a previous base.

The 100 per cent threshold at the top of the vertical axis represents Canada’s Official Poverty Line. As such, the graphs essentially show how far below the poverty line the households have been in terms of their total welfare income over the past twenty years. The trendlines indicate changes in the level of poverty of the households within the years in which the bases are applied. A rise in the trendline within those periods indicates an improvement in their level of poverty while a decline indicates a worsening of the depth of their poverty.

A grey line has also been included that indicates the deep income poverty threshold, which is 75 per cent of the MBM. As such, the graphs also show the relationship between total welfare incomes over time and deep poverty.

Note that MBM thresholds vary by province and community size, and so Moncton is used. Also note that the 2021 MBM thresholds are estimates based on increasing the 2020 thresholds to account for inflation. More information is in the methodology section.

Of all the example households, the welfare income of the unattached single considered employable was lowest relative to the poverty line across the time series. Starting in 2002, the income was only 26 per cent of the poverty line and remained at that level through 2008, when it was 25 per cent. After rebasing in 2008, their income relative to the poverty line was slightly lower at 23 per cent. A sharp increase followed in 2010 to 41 per cent, where it stayed almost the same for the following eight years, ending at 39 per cent of the poverty line. The 2018 rebasing put their income at 34 per cent of the poverty line, where again it remained basically unchanged until 2021 where it ended the series at 33 per cent.

Overall, the income of the unattached single considered employable relative to the MBM increased by seven percentage points across the entire time series, from 26 to 33 per cent of the poverty line. While this is an improvement, the household still experienced a significant depth of poverty with a total income of one-third of the poverty line. Of course, their income was below the deep income poverty threshold across the entire time series, so they would have been living in deep poverty over the last 20 years.

The welfare income of the unattached single with a disability started the time series at the much higher relative level of 60 per cent of the poverty line, remaining at virtually the same level until 2008 when it was 58 per cent. After the 2008 rebasing, their income was 53 per cent of the poverty line, after which it remained relatively flat, ending in 2018 at 54 per cent. After the 2018 rebasing, their income was 47 per cent of the poverty line. Again, with a slight fluctuation, their income remained at virtually the same level, ending the time series in 2021 at 46 per cent of the poverty line.

Overall, the income of the unattached single with a disability declined substantially relative to the poverty line across the time series, decreasing by 14 percentage points. This represents a significant worsening of the depth of their poverty over the past 20 years. As well, their income was below the deep income poverty threshold across the entire time series so they would have been living in deep income poverty throughout the entire 20-year period.

Among the four example households, the welfare income of the single parent with one child fared best relative to the poverty line, starting the time series at 72 per cent and increasing to 77 per cent in 2008. After rebasing, their income was slightly lower at 70 per cent of the poverty line. Over the following ten years, their income rose from a low of 67 per cent in 2012 to a high of 79 per cent in 2017, and ended in 2018 at 78 per cent of the poverty line. After 2018’s rebasing their income was at 67 per cent of the poverty line and, after some fluctuations, ended the time series at 68 per cent in 2021.

Overall, the relative income of the single parent with one child declined slightly across the time series, from 72 per cent of the poverty line in 2002 to 68 per cent in 2021. Their income was below the deep income poverty threshold for most of the entire time series, only rising above deep income poverty for two of the past twenty years.

The welfare income of the couple with two children followed a similar trendline to that of the single parent but started the time series at the lower level of 65 per cent of the poverty line in 2002, moving to 66 per cent in 2008. After the 2008 rebasing, their income was 60 per cent of the poverty line. Over the following ten years their income rose from a low of 58 per cent in 2012 to a high of 74 per cent in 2017, then fell to 73 per cent in 2018. After 2018’s rebasing their income was at 63 per cent of the poverty line. Their relative income fluctuated more than that of the single parent with one child over the following three years, ending the time series at 61 per cent of the poverty line in 2012.

Overall, the relative income of the couple with two children declined slightly across the time series, from 66 per cent of the poverty line in 2008 to 61 per cent, or less than one-third, in 2012. In addition, their income was below the deep income poverty threshold across the entire time series, meaning they would have been living in deep poverty for the past 20 years.