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Table 3.1 Summary of low-income lines in the 2011 National Household Survey

Description

This table describes the various dimensions of the three low-income concepts available on the National Household Survey database. The column headings are: dimensions and low-income concept divided in low income measures (LIM); low-income cut-offs (LICO) and market basket measure (MBM). The rows describe for which geography the concept is defined, whether the unit for income is household or economic families and persons aged 15 and over not in an economic family, what adjustment factor is used to adjust a specific low-income threshold to account for families or households of different sizes, to determine which income variable should be used to compare to each low-income threshold, and lastly, to determine how each line was defined.

Table 3.1 Summary of low-income lines in the 2011 National Household Survey
Dimensions	Low-income concept
Dimensions	Low Income Measures (LIM)	Low-income cut-offs (LICO)	Market Basket Measure (MBM)
Geography	One level across Canada	Size of area of residence	49 regions
Unit for income	Households	Economic families and persons 15+ not in EF	Economic families and persons 15+ not in EF
Adjustment factor	Square root of household size	Different lines based on size of economic family up to 7+ members category	Square root of economic family size
Income	After-tax income of households^{Footnote 1} Household total income^{Footnote 2} Market income of households^{Footnote 3}	After-tax income of economic families^{Footnote 4} Economic family total income^{Footnote 5}	Disposable income for MBM for economic families and persons not in economic families^{Footnote 6}
Line	Half the median of adjusted income	Income level at which families usually spend 20 percentage points more than the average family on shelter, food and clothing^{Footnote 7}	Price of the basket of goods and services for the reference family^{Footnote 8}
Source: Statistics Canada, Income Statistics Division. Notes Footnote 1 For the Low-income measure after-tax (LIM-AT). Return to footnote 1 referrer Footnote 2 For the Low-income measure before-tax (LIM-BT). Return to footnote 2 referrer Footnote 3 For the Low-income measure of market income (LIM-MI). Return to footnote 3 referrer Footnote 4 For the Low-income after-tax cut-offs (LICO-AT). Return to footnote 4 referrer Footnote 5 For the Low-income before-tax cut-offs (LICO-BT). Return to footnote 5 referrer Footnote 6 For HRSDC's Market Basket Measure (MBM). Return to footnote 6 referrer Footnote 7 Based on estimates from the 1992 Family Expenditure Survey adjusted to 2010 dollars with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Return to footnote 7 referrer Footnote 8 The contents of the basket were defined by Human Ressources and Skills Development Canada, prices were measured by Statistics Canada. Return to footnote 8 referrer

Date modified:: 2016-01-04

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Table 3.1 Summary of low-income lines in the 2011 National Household Survey