This report documenting the cost of poverty in Manitoba finds poverty is an economic burden on the province. The Cost of Poverty in Manitoba, published today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Manitoba office finds that povertycost Manitoba $2.5 billion dollars in 2019, the latest year data was available. This amounts to 3.4 per cent of Manitoba’s GDP and $1,952.00 per Manitoban.
Backgrounder:
The cost of poverty in Manitoba includes three areas of cost: remedial costs, opportunity costs, and intergenerational costs:
1. Remedial costs: the direct cost of poverty arising from treating the damage poverty causes people.
a. Health: The health cost of poverty is calculated by the cost of increased usage of the health care system by those struggling with poverty as compared with the second income quintile.
b. Crime: Living in poverty creates vulnerabilities that place people at risk of being criminalized or victims of crime. These are quantified as direct expenditures by governments, costs to victims and preventative measures.
2. Opportunity costs are the indirect costs of poverty that prevent people from fully taking advantage of economic opportunities. The report quantifies how much more low income people could contribute in taxes if they were not trapped in poverty.
3. Lost Productivity is measured by how much more workers could contribute to the economy if they were in better-paying jobs.
4. Intergenerational costs of families trapped in poverty is estimated by the number of children that would escape poverty if the intergenerational transfer of poverty were eliminated.
Cost of poverty in Manitoba (2019)
| Health costs | $347 million |
| Crime | $197 million |
| Opportunity Costs | $1.6 billion |
| Intergenerational | $324 million |
| Total cost of poverty in Manitoba | $2.5 billion |
| Cost per Manitoban | $1,952 |
| Poverty cost as a percent of Manitoba’s GDP | 3.4% |
