The evolution of welfare participation among Canadian lone mothers, 1973-1991

Canadian lone mothers under age 35 exhibited an increasing reliance on welfare income along with stagnant wages and declining levels of market work and earnings between 1973 and 1991. In contrast, lone mothers age 35 and over exhibited a decreasing reliance on welfare income along with rising levels of market work, wages and earnings. A key factor accounting for rising welfare use among younger lone mothers was a decline in wages relative to welfare benefits accompanied by a mixed pattern of demographic change (falling family size offset by growing proportions of lone mothers who are never married.) Much of the declining welfare use among older lone mothers can be explained by decreasing family size and increasing education accompanied by market wages that grew at the same rate as welfare benefits.