When the pandemic began in 2020, it upended many aspects of Canadian life. In newly published data from Statistics Canada’s 2021 census, the income profiles of Canadians in the first year of the pandemic was revealed, including how many people received COVID-19 government assistance.
How many Coasters got CERB?
In Canada, more than two-thirds of Canadian adults, or 68.4 per cent, received a COVID-19 emergency and recovery benefit (CERB) from the government in 2020.
According to Statistics Canada, a total of 6,160 people on the lower Sunshine Coast received CERB in 2020. In Gibsons, CERB was distributed to 980 residents, and the median CERB received in the Town was $9,000. In Sechelt, the median was $8,000 and it was received by 1,920 people. The median CERB was highest for the Sechelt Indian Government District (SIGD), at $14,000, and was received by 195 people.
Among the communities of the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), the median was highest in the Pender Harbour (Area A) and West Howe Sound (Area F) areas at $10,000, where 575 and 485 respective residents benefited from CERB. Of the 560 Halfmoon Bay (Area B) recipients of CERB, the median was $9,000. In Roberts Creek (Area D), 750 people took part in CERB, where the median for the community was $8,500. Elphinstone (Area E) residents took home slightly less, with a median of $8,000 calculated among the 735 residents benefiting from the program.
On the lower Sunshine Coast, a report published earlier this year by the Sunshine Coast Foundation determined that workers needed to make at least $19.79 an hour in 2021 to earn a livable wage.
Income by community
Across the board, lower Sunshine Coast communities' median employment income was below the nation's median of $37,200.
In the Town of Gibsons, there were 4,065 residents aged 15 years or older in private households, the ages captured in the 2020 income profile, and 3,990 of those residents received an income that year. The median total income for those residents of Gibsons was $40,000 ($46,000 for men and $36,400 for women), while the median after-tax income was $36,800 ($41,600 for men, $34,000 for women). For comparison, in 2019, the medium total income was $37,600 and $34,000 after tax. Market income (which includes employment and self-employment earnings, private retirement income, net investment income and other types of income) was received by 3,610 people in Gibsons in 2020, and the median market income was $30,800. Employment income was earned by 2,495 people in Gibsons at a median of $31,000.
There were 70 people in Gibsons without after-tax income, and 3,995 people with after-tax income. Of that population, 320 people had under $10,000. Based on the low-income measure, 525 people received low income after tax, a prevalence of 11.5 per cent in Gibsons. On the other end of the spectrum, 65 people made $125,000 and over after tax. The data show income by $10,000 categories. The largest employment income cohort in Gibsons was 705 people earning between $20,000 to $29,999.
The data show 3,415 people in Gibsons received government transfers, the median of which was $14,400. The median employment insurance (EI) benefits in 2020 was $5,200, and 280 people in Gibsons received EI that year.
In the District of Sechelt, Statistics Canada data show there were 9,335 people aged 15 years or older in 2020 and 9,200 of them received income that year. The median total income in 2020 was $39,600 — $45,200 for men and $35,600 for women. In 2019, the median total income in Sechelt was $38,000 ($44,800 for men, $33,200 for women). After tax, the median income in Sechelt was $36,000 ($41,200 for men, $32,800 for women). There were 8,365 people who received market income in Sechelt that year, the median of which was $30,200. Employment income was earned by 5,485 people, and there was a median rate of $31,400.
Statistics Canada shows 7,930 people in Sechelt received government transfers (at a median of $14,300), and 580 people received EI benefits (median of $5,480).
After tax, 125 people in Sechelt were without after-tax income, and 9,205 with after-tax income. Based on the low-income measure, 1,340 people were considered low income after tax, a prevalence of 12.6 per cent in Sechelt. In 2020, 655 people received less than $10,000 in after-tax income. Again, the biggest cohort of income recipients (1,835 people), by categories of $10,000, earned between $20,000 and $29,999.
In 2020, there were 625 people in the SIGD 15 years and older, and 610 of them received income. The median total income that year was $29,000 ($30,000 among men, $27,800 for women), compared to $24,400 ($26,000 men, $22,800 women) among 595 people the year before. After tax, the median income in the SIGD was recorded as $28,000 ($28,800 for men, $27,000 for women). Of the 400 people in the SIGD who received market income, the median was $19,800. The median employment income was $26,000, and it was earned by 330 people. Government transfers were distributed to 575 people (median $14,600), and 60 people benefited from EI at a median of $4,600.
The SCRD
In Area A, of the 2,750 people 15 years and older, 2,705 received income in 2020 at a median total income of $34,800 (a median of $39,600 among men and $30,800 among women). In 2019, the median total income was $34,000 ($38,400 for men, $30,000 for women). Area A’s after-tax median income was calculated to be $32,000 ($36,400 for men and $28,800 for women). The market median income — among 2,405 people — was $24,800 in the first year of the pandemic. Meanwhile, 1,475 people earned employment income, the median of which was $23,600. A median of $5,280 of EI was distributed to 185 people, and 2,320 people received government transfers to the tune of a median of $14,500.
There were 2,590 Area B residents 15 years and older in 2020, and 2,535 of them received income that year. The median of the community’s total income was $39,200 ($44,000 among men and $35,600 among women), compared to the previous year’s median of $37,200 among 2,480 people. After tax, 2020’s median income in Halfmoon Bay was reported to be $35,600 ($39,600 for men and $32,400 for women). The market income median, for some 2,325 people, was $30,000 that year. Of the 1,535 people with employment income, the median was calculated to be $28,400. EI was distributed to 175 people in the area at a median of $6,280. The median of government transfers, to the 2,125 people who received them, was $13,100.
Creekers in Area D took home a median income of $38,400 in 2019 (based on 2,915 people’s total income), which rose to a median total income of $40,000 — $44,000 was the median for men, and $37,600 for women — the next year when 2,980 people took home an income. There were 3,025 people aged 15 or over in the Creek in 2020. After tax in 2020, that median income dipped to $36,800 ($40,000 for men, $34,800 for women), while the market income median was reported to be $31,200. Employment income for 2,010 people calculated a median of $29,000. Government transfers reached 2,470 Roberts Creek residents at a median of $13,000, while 180 people used EI at a median of $5,760.
Of Elphinstone Area E’s 3,255 residents aged 15 and up in 2020, 3,170 of them took home an income that year. The median total income in that community was $40,400 ($49,200 for men, $34,800 for women). The after-tax income median in 2020 was $36,800 ($44,800 for men, $32,000 for women) for those in Elphinstone, and the median market income was determined to be $33,200, while 2,100 people’s employment income reached a median of $34,400. Government transfers were sent to 2,570 Area E residents at a median of $12,200, and 200 people on EI saw a median of $5,520.
Those living in West Howe Sound (Area F) took home a median total income of $42,000 ($48,000 for men and $38,000 for women) in 2020, according to Statistics Canada, up from the median of $39,600 among 2,015 the year before. In 2020, there were 2,080 residents of Area F who were 15 years or older and 2,045 of them recorded an income that year. After tax, the median income was closer to $38,800 ($43,600 for men, $35,200 for women), and the median market income for 1,905 people was $33,200. Of the 1,355 residents receiving employment income, the median was $31,000. Statistics Canada calculates 1,705 people in Area F received government transfers, a median of $12,800, and 135 people received EI at a median of $6,000.
More data can be found at https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/
National trends
Canadian incomes trended higher during the early pandemic, up 9.8 per cent compared to five years before, the latest data shows. Only Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador saw overall decreases. The median after-tax income of people 15 and older in the country was $37,200, which shows slow employment income growth over five years and higher government transfers in 2020 specifically, the Canadian Press reports.
But higher median incomes do not mean people earned more, Statistics Canada stresses. Instead, it is a reflection of low-income sector job losses that were not included in the data.
Pandemic or not, the gender pay gap remained. According to median income rates, men earned 35 per cent more than women in Canada.
With files from Marie-Danielle Smith, The Canadian Press
