Components of welfare incomes
In the Northwest Territories, households that qualify for basic social assistance payments also qualify for:
- Recurring additional social assistance payments from the territory,
- Federal and territorial child benefits, for households with children, and
- Federal and territorial tax credits or benefits.
Together, these components 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 2022, all example households received additional payments from the federal government related to the increased cost of living due to high inflation. These payments are included where applicable in the table below.
Table 1NT shows the value of the welfare income components of the four example household types in the Northwest Territories in 2022. All four households are assumed to be living in Yellowknife, receiving territorial social assistance starting January 1 and for the entire year, and earning no employment income. The child in the single-parent household is two years old and the children in the couple household are ten and 15. Other assumptions for calculating incomes are in the methodology section.
Table 1NT: Components of welfare incomes for all example households in the Northwest Territories, 2022
Total annual welfare incomes in 2022 ranged from $25,986 for the unattached single considered employable to $48,264 for the couple with two children. The income of the unattached single with a disability was $31,744 and that of the single parent with one child was $37,484.
Basic social assistance: The food allowance remained unchanged in 2022: households with one adult received $343 per month and households with two adults received $480 per month. The clothing allowance, which provided $79 per year to a one-adult household and $110 to a couple household, also remained unchanged.
In the Northwest Territories, the benefits paid for the costs of shelter, fuel, and utilities are based on the actual costs of each recipient household. The shelter amount included in our calculations is a maximum based on average market rents as calculated annually by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. These amounts increased in 2022 for all four households. The fuel and utilities components are an average of the amount paid to recipients in each of the household types in 2022, and are provided by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. These amounts decreased significantly in 2022 for all households, which may be the result of a large decrease in the number of people receiving social assistance in the Northwest Territories.
All four households continued to receive the Furnishing Allowance in 2022 due to a 2020 policy decision to enroll all clients in the “Wellness: Self-Care” Productive Choice activity option in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The unattached singles received $175, the single parent with one child received $323, and the couple with two children received $567.
Additional social assistance: Only the unattached single with a disability received additional social assistance benefits, in the form of both the Disability Allowance of $405 per month and the Incidental Allowance for Persons with Disabilities of $39 per month. These amounts remained unchanged in 2022.
Federal child benefits: Both households with children received the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), which increased with inflation in July 2022 from $569.42 to $583.08 per month for a child under six years of age and from $480.41 to $491.91 per month for a child aged six to 17. The single parent with one child received the maximum monthly amounts. The couple with two children received $927.38 per month from January to June and $945.64 per month from July to December, which is a reduced amount because their prior year incomes were above the level of eligibility for the maximum amounts.
The COVID-19 pandemic-related CCB Young Child Supplement of $1,200 that the single-parent household received in 2021 was not available in 2022.
Territorial child benefits: Both households with children received the Northwest Territories Child Benefit. The single parent with one child received the maximum amount of $67.91 per month (i.e., the amount provided for one child under the age of six). The couple with two children received a reduced amount, due to their income in prior years, of $88.03 per month from January to June, and $85.70 per month from July to December. The maximum amounts for this benefit remained unchanged in 2022.
Federal tax credits/benefits: All four households received the GST/HST credit, which increased in July 2022 with inflation. The unattached single considered employable and the unattached single with a disability received $302.50 in basic GST/HST credit, while the single parent with one child received $605 and the couple with two children received $923. Three households also received the GST/HST credit supplement. The unattached single considered employable, the unattached single with a disability, and the single parent with one child each received the maximum amount of $159.
All households received an additional one-time GST credit payment related to the increased cost of living due to high inflation, paid in November 2022. The unattached single households both received $233.50, the single parent with one child received $386.50, and the couple with two children received $467.
Territorial tax credits/benefits: All four households received the Northwest Territories Cost-of-Living Offset, which helps offset the cost of the NWT carbon tax. Households received four quarterly payments in 2022: two for the 2021–2022 year in the amounts of $104 per adult and $120 per child under 18, and two for the 2022-23 year in the amounts of $130 per adult and $150 per child under 18.
Cost-of-living payments
All four households received payments from the federal government related to the higher cost of living resulting from high inflation in 2022. The federal one-time GST credit payment was paid in November 2022 and was equivalent to the two regular GST credit (and credit supplement if applicable) payments received in the latter half of 2022.
Table 2NT: Cost-of-living payments for all example households in the Northwest Territories, 2022
Changes to welfare incomes
Figures 1NT and 2NT show how the total welfare incomes for each of the four example household types in the Northwest Territories have changed over time. Note that the values are in 2022 constant dollars, not real 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.
Figure 1NT: Welfare incomes for example unattached single households in the Northwest Territories 1986–2022, 2022 constant dollars
The welfare incomes of the unattached single considered employable and the unattached single with a disability followed a nearly identical pattern across the time series. After a substantial decline in 1997, both saw a gradual increase until 2008, a slight decrease until 2013, significant fluctuations from 2013 to 2019 (resulting from the way that utility and shelter costs were calculated for the purposes of this report, rather than changes to benefit program policy), with a notable increase in 2020 followed by a decrease to 2022.
Increases between 2018 and 2020 were due to three main changes: (1) a significant increase in utilities costs in the Northwest Territories and a corresponding increase in the average amounts paid for those costs; (2) a 2019 increase in maximum shelter amounts; and (3) the implementation of the NWT Cost of Living Offset and COVID-19 pandemic-related payments from both territorial and federal sources.
The decline in 2021 was primarily due to the loss of most of those payments, and, in the case of the unattached single with a disability, a decline in average monthly utilities amounts. The decline in 2022 was largely due to significantly lower average utilities costs – it is notable that this resulted in a real-dollar decrease in total incomes in 2022. However, this decrease could be due to a much lower number of people receiving social assistance in the Northwest Territories in that year, resulting in the much lower average, as well as to the impact of high inflation on benefit rates.
In 2022, the welfare income of the unattached single considered employable was $25,986, which is a 15 per cent decline compared to 2021 in constant dollars. The welfare income of the unattached single with a disability was $31,744, which is a 13 per cent decline compared to 2021 in constant dollars.
Figure 2NT: Welfare incomes for example households with children in the Northwest Territories 1986–2022, 2022 constant dollars
After a decline in their total welfare incomes through most of the 1990s, the households with children saw relative stability, with some fluctuations, until 2013–2014. A general increase followed until 2020. The major drop in 2007 was primarily the result of a significant decline in the level of basic social assistance benefits in that year.
Recent increases were largely due to changes in federal child benefits as well as the addition of COVID-19 pandemic-related payments in 2020 and 2021 from both territorial and federal sources; in 2020, both households saw the highest values in welfare incomes across the time series. The declines in 2021 primarily resulted from the loss of COVID-19 pandemic-related supports, as well as the impact of inflation on unchanged social assistance benefit amounts. The steeper drop in 2022 resulted from the loss of pandemic-related supports available to the single parent in 2021, a significant decline in the average utilities amounts (see the "Components of welfare incomes " section), and the impact of high inflation.
In 2022, the single parent with one child had a welfare income of $37,484, which is a 14 per cent decline compared to 2021 in constant dollars. The couple with two children had a welfare income of $48,264, which is a 15 per cent decline compared to 2021 in constant dollars.
Adequacy of welfare incomes
The adequacy of a household’s total welfare income can be assessed by comparing it to established thresholds of poverty. The Market Basket Measure (MBM) was adopted as Canada’s Official Poverty Line in 2018. The Northern Market Basket Measure, or MBM-N, was subsequently created to serve this purpose for the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. Note that Statistics Canada is in the process of creating a separate Market Basket Measure for Nunavut.
We use two measures of poverty to assess the adequacy of total welfare incomes in the Northwest Territories:
- The Northern Market Basket Measure (MBM-N), Canada’s Official Poverty Line for the Northwest Territories and the Yukon, identifies households whose disposable income is less than the cost of a “basket” of goods and services that represents a basic standard of living in those territories.
- The Deep Income Poverty (MBM-N-DIP) threshold identifies households in those two territories whose disposable income is less than 75 per cent of the MBM-N.
Note that MBM-N thresholds vary by territory and community size. As such, we use the thresholds for the province’s largest city, Yellowknife, in the analysis below.
Also note that although we use the Low Income Measure (LIM) and the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) for adequacy comparisons in the provinces, they do not appropriately reflect life in the North and thus, as in past reports, we will not use those measures to provide adequacy comparisons for the territories.
As well, note that none of the poverty or low-income measures currently in use in Canada accounts for the higher cost of living faced by people with disabilities and that 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 the Northwest Territories with the two poverty thresholds is available for download.
Poverty threshold comparisons
Figures 3NT and 4NT compare 2022 welfare incomes for the four example household types to the 2022 MBM-N and MBM-N-DIP thresholds for Yellowknife.
The welfare incomes of all four example household types in the Northwest Territories were below Canada’s Official Poverty Line in 2022, meaning that all four households were living in poverty. However, only one of the four households was living in deep poverty in 2022 as defined by the MBM-N-DIP.
Figure 3NT: Welfare incomes and poverty thresholds for example unattached single households in the Northwest Territories, 2022
The welfare income of the unattached single considered employable was $864 above the Deep Income Poverty threshold but $7,509 below the Poverty Line. This means their income was 103 per cent of the MBM-N-DIP but only 78 per cent of the MBM-N.
The unattached single with a disability had an income that was highest relative to the poverty thresholds among the four households. Their welfare income was $6,622 above the Deep Income Poverty threshold and $1,752 below the Poverty Line. This means their income was 126 per cent of the MBM-N-DIP and 95 per cent of the MBM-N.
Note that the poverty experienced by people with disabilities is underrepresented because neither the MBM-N nor the MBM-N-DIP account for the additional costs associated with disability.
Figure 4NT: Welfare incomes and poverty thresholds for example households with children in the Northwest Territories, 2022
The welfare income of the single parent with one child was $1,962 above the Deep Income Poverty threshold but $9,879 below the Poverty Line. This means their income was 106 per cent of the MBM-N-DIP but 79 per cent of the MBM-N.
The couple with two children had the lowest income relative to the poverty thresholds. Their welfare income was $1,980 below the Deep Income Poverty threshold and $18,727 below the Poverty Line. This means their income was 96 per cent of the MBM-N-DIP and 72 per cent of the MBM-N.
Changes to adequacy of welfare incomes
For the first time, we can track changes in the adequacy of welfare incomes in the Northwest Territories over time, as Statistics Canada has just released the Northern Market Basket Measure (MBM-N) thresholds for 2018 through 2022.
Figures 5NT and 6NT show the total welfare incomes of each of the four example household types in the Northwest Territories as a percentage of the MBM-N, starting in 2018.
The black line at the top of each of the graphs (i.e., the 100 per cent threshold) represents the MBM-N, which is Canada’s Official Poverty Line. This means that the graphs show the relationship between the four household’s total welfare incomes and the Poverty Line over the past five years.
The grey line indicates the Deep Income Poverty threshold, which is 75 per cent of the MBM-N. The graphs therefore also show the relationship between total welfare incomes and deep poverty in each year over the past five years.
The trendlines in these graphs indicate changes in the households’ levels of poverty across the five-year time series. A rise in the trendline indicates an improvement in their level of poverty while a decline indicates a deepening of their poverty.
Note that MBM-N thresholds reflect the conditions in each territory and vary by community size. The MBM-N thresholds used here are for Yellowknife. More information is in the methodology section.
Figure 5NT: Welfare incomes as a percentage of the MBM-N for example unattached single households in the Northwest Territories, 2018–2022
The income of the unattached single considered employable started the five-year time series at 74 per cent of the Poverty Line in 2018, moving to a high point of 89 per cent of the Poverty Line in 2020, and ending the time series at 78 per cent in 2022.
Overall, the income of the unattached single considered employable increased by four percentage points relative to the Poverty Line across the time series. Although this is an improvement, the household was still living below the Poverty Line across the entire five-year period. It is notable, however, that this household’s total income was above the Deep Income Poverty threshold for four of the past five years, which means that although they were living in poverty, they were not living in deep poverty for most of the time series.
The income of the unattached single with a disability followed the same trajectory and fared best relative to the Poverty Line of the four example households. Their income started the time series at 92 per cent of the Poverty Line, increasing in 2020 to 109 per cent, and ending the time series at 95 per cent of the Poverty Line in 2022.
Overall, the income of the unattached single with a disability increased by three percentage points between 2018 and 2022, which is a slight improvement in the depth of their poverty. In addition, this household’s income was above the Poverty Line for three of the past five years and was not below the deep income Poverty Line in any year in the time series. This means that this household was living out of poverty in three of the past five years but fell back into poverty in 2022.
Figure 6NT: Welfare incomes as a percentage of the MBM-N for households with children in the Northwest Territories, 2018–2022
The welfare income of the single parent with one child started the time series at 81 per cent of the Poverty Line, increasing to 89 per cent in 2021 and ending the five-year time series at 79 per cent of the Poverty Line in 2022.
Overall, the income of the single parent with one child decreased slightly relative to the Poverty Line, by three percentage points, over the five-year period, which indicates a slight deepening of their poverty. Over the time series, this household’s total income was above the Deep Income Poverty threshold in every year, which means that although they were living in poverty over the past five years, they were not living in deep poverty.
The total welfare income of the couple with two children fared worst relative to the Poverty Line of the four example households. Their income started the time series in 2018 at 76 per cent of the Poverty Line, increased to 82 per cent in 2021, and ended the time series in 2022 at 72 per cent.
Overall, the income of the couple with two children decreased slightly relative to the Poverty Line, by four percentage points, over the five-year period. This indicates a slight deepening of their poverty. As well, this household’s total income was above the Deep Income Poverty threshold in the first four of the last five years; this means that although they were living in poverty for the past five years, they only fell into deep poverty in 2022.
Access to data
The data for the Northwest Territories is available for download, including:
- Components of welfare income for all households, with a breakdown of cost of living-related payments.
- Welfare incomes in 2022 constant dollars over time for all households.
- Welfare incomes in real dollars over time for all households.
- Adequacy of welfare incomes: Comparisons of the welfare incomes of each household with the two poverty thresholds applicable in the North.
- Adequacy over time: Welfare income relative to the Official Poverty Line (MBM-N) for each household from 2018 to 2022.