Toronto Is Canadas Poverty Capital For Working-Age People

Its been known for some time that Toronto is an incredibly expensive city in which to live. But a new report from the Toronto Foundation really hammers home how tough it can be out there.

The Vital Signs report says Toronto is Canadas working-age poverty capital, meaning it has the countrys highest poverty rates for adults who are of working age older than 18 but not yet retired. Its not doing much better for other people either: it has the second highest poverty rate in Canada for both children and seniors. Only Winnipeg has higher child poverty rates, and Vancouver has higher senior poverty rates.

Earlier: Immigrants in Toronto today are earning less than newcomers in 1980. Story continues after the video.

","type":"newAolon","meta":{},"flags":[],"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"archive","device":"mobile","editionInfo":{"id":"us","name":"U.S.","link":"https://action.news","locale":"en_US"},"originalEdition":"ca","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"5da3a7dee4b02c9da04c8d54","entryPermalink":"https://action.news/archive/ca/entry/toronto-poverty-capital-working-age_ca_5da3a7dee4b02c9da04c8d54","entryTagsList":"toronto,racism,poverty,income-inequality,housing-affordability,@instantarticle,@newsletter-news3","sectionSlug":"business","deptSlug":null,"sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"news","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"us.business","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc111dcf87c2cd2f5d8bf","overrides":{"front_page_top_videos":{"desktop":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","mobileweb":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d"},"top_media":{"desktop":"60b8e6bdc5449357a7ada147","mobile":"60b8e701c5449357a7ada2ee","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"},"anthology":{"desktop":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","mobile":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"},"content":{"desktop":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","mobile":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"}},"playerUpdates":{"5668ae6ee4b0b5e26955d6a6":"60d2472d9340d7032ad7e443","56aa41bae4b091744c0440d8":"60e869dc7c5f3b17b6741b81","5841b2b5cc52c716ec6e5a7f":"60b8e355cdd90620331ba185","58b5e2b8d85a10302feee895":"60b64316b171b7444beafdb2","58b74698f78ced31417819ae":"60b8e5bec5449357a7ad9b52","58b74ccecebcea57e2c3a3d1":"60b8e5eac5449357a7ad9ca5","58cff690d85a100b9992bc39":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","58cffb3fb6d9b972a49a3c9d":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","58cffdd74d96935d7d6ec180":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","58d03a84f78ced6518eb2fa7":"60b643c82e76be41f112735c","592edf20e0fa177b0c26f7fd":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","5b35266b158f855373e28256":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","5c116f29f79c4171d82b7c2a":"60b64440b171b7444beb040b","5c1170fc600c9a697bf0c6b9":"60b646102e76be41f1127ffc","5c47791afa1b317df8ae0c4f":"60b8e6bdc5449357a7ada147","5c477987a6b48b35f164773d":"60b8e701c5449357a7ada2ee","5c4779ee943c3c2a64f28371":"60b8e747cdd90620331bb861","5c477a26fcd67b26879bc7c2":"60b8e788c5449357a7ada67b","5d8921a78c3ae845f366c9b6":"60ae7be5f3a7c13a30417ff9","58b98b00ba82aa39a6534321":"60d0de7c9340d7032ad1146c","58b9d14cb6d9b96c9ec32af3":"60d0dec19340d7032ad115a0","58cff8eccebcea42931e0436":"60d0e005b627221e9d819d44","592edf5de0fa177b0c26f95b":"60d0e38fb627221e9d81adcf","58cff72fd85a100b9992c112":"60d0e447b627221e9d81b0da","56b4d34fe4b022697697c400":"60d2472d9340d7032ad7e443","60b8e4c0c5449357a7ad957d":"60e869dc7c5f3b17b6741b81"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b","clickToPlayPlayer":"d014396e-b366-4c17-aeac-3ce906fa3fd0","videoPagePlayer":"f010447b-d244-4111-a314-7b4542ae4145","verticalPlayer":"e58cb05a-0bc8-4210-9108-fea82726c065","stickyPlayerControl":"52ea1755-d601-4ad1-bccc-d8cce3f0e5da","stickyPlayerON":"8055e9e5-3bda-4933-8d45-9ad814fb6e22"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":3},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":0},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"5da3a7dee4b02c9da04c8d54","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"mobile","page_edition":"en-us"},"tags":[{"name":"toronto","slug":"toronto","links":{"relativeLink":"news/toronto","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/toronto","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/toronto"},"section":{"title":"News","slug":"news"},"topic":{"title":"Toronto","slug":"toronto","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/archive/ca/topic/toronto"},{"name":"racism","slug":"racism","links":{"relativeLink":"news/racism","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/racism","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/racism"},"url":"https://action.news/archive/ca/topic/racism"},{"name":"poverty","slug":"poverty","links":{"relativeLink":"news/poverty","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/poverty","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/poverty"},"section":{"title":"News","slug":"news"},"topic":{"title":"Poverty","slug":"poverty","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/archive/ca/topic/poverty"},{"name":"income inequality","slug":"income-inequality","links":{"relativeLink":"news/income-inequality","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/income-inequality","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/income-inequality"},"url":"https://action.news/archive/ca/topic/income-inequality"},{"name":"Housing Affordability","slug":"housing-affordability","links":{"relativeLink":"news/housing-affordability","permalink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/housing-affordability","mobileWebLink":"https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/housing-affordability"},"url":"https://action.news/archive/ca/topic/housing-affordability"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["

\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false,"enhancements":{},"defer":true,"addPlaceholder":false}">

David Hulchanski, a professor at University of Torontos Faculty of Social Work, had some of his research included in the report. He said Torontos working poor level has been increasing over the past 10 years.

[It means] adults working full-time or almost full-time and not earning enough to clear the poverty level, not earning enough to live on for themselves or their families, he said.

The divide is also highly racial, and hits Black Torontonians particularly hard.

More and more people having jobs that dont pay enough to live on. And then its highly racialized: a smaller percentage of white Torontonians are among the working poor but for racialized groups its much higher and then for the Black population of Toronto its even higher, he said.

It doesnt matter whether youre an immigrant or Canadian-born when it comes to the Black population but it does matter to other groups.