Canadian Social Research Newsletter
September 4, 2005

Welcome to the weekly Canadian Social Research Newsletter, a listing of the new links added to the Canadian Social Research Links website in the past week.

The e-mail version of this week's issue of the newsletter is going out to 1431 subscribers.

Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IN THIS ISSUE:

- includes a backgrounder with more detailed info on the "Wave 1 Allocations (Fall 2005)" --- showing the number of units affected and the funding allocation for each of Ontario's municipal regions with respect to new affordable housing units and housing allowances/rent supplements
Source:
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Related Links:

Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MAH)
- MAH Announcements : (A bit of context)"On April 29, 2005, the governments of Canada and Ontario signed a new Affordable Housing Agreement. This agreement brings the total commitment in affordable housing in Ontario by the federal, provincial and municipal governments to $734 million over the life of the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program. This will create more than 15,000 units of affordable housing and provide housing allowances for more than 5,000 lower-income households in Ontario."

City of Toronto - includes a link to the same release and backgrounder as you'll find on the CHMC and MAH sites above - PLUS a link to the Memorandum of Understanding (small PDF file) signed by partners CMHC, MAH, Ontario municipalities (as represented by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario) and the City of Toronto, in the implementation of the Agreement.

Allocation announcement starts the ball rolling on new Affordable Housing Program
August 31, 2005
Source:
Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association

- Go to the Municipalities Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/municipal.htm
- Go to the Ontario Government Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk.htm

Work-life Balance – How the Regions Stack Up
August 26, 2005
How well do Canadian workers balance their roles as employee, spouse, and/or parent? Are there differences between regions in Canada?
New indicators on CPRN’s innovative Web site – www.jobquality.ca – provide some answers. This is the second set of indicators on Work-Life Balance by Region in Canada drawn from the groundbreaking research report Where to Work in Canada? An Examination of Regional Differences in Work Life Practices by Linda Duxbury (Carleton University) and Chris Higgins (University of Western Ontario).
The updates focus on the themes of Work-Life Conflict and Family Outcomes. We examine four indicators:
- role overload;
- role interference (work interference with family, and family interference with work);
- caregiver strain;
- family impact – on plans for family size and the timing of children.
For these and dozens of other indicators on the quality of Canadian workplaces, visit the Web site at www.jobquality.ca

Related Link:

Where To Work in Canada? An Examination of Regional Differences in Work Life Practices (PDF file - 294K, 103 pages)
Linda Duxbury and Chris Higgins
September 2003
Report commissioned by the BC Work-Life Summit 2003.. 103 pp.
"... draws on the 2001 National Study on Balancing Work and Family, in which 28,538 employees from a wide cross-section of industries and economic sectors [private, public, non-profit], and from every province took part."

Source:
Work Network
[ Canadian Policy Research Networks ]

- Go to the Work-Life Balance Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/work_life_balance.htm

First Nations Seeker:
Directory of Canada's First Nations Portals
"Visit First Nations communities through websites they have created!"

- Go to the First Nations Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/1stbkmrk.htm

POVERTY DISPATCH Digest
Institute for Research on Poverty - U. of Wisconsin
This digest offers dozens of new links each week to full-text articles in the U.S. media (mostly daily newspapers) on poverty, poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, and much more...
The Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers a free e-mail service that consists of an e-mail message sent to subscribers each Monday and Thursday, containing a dozen or so links to articles dealing with the areas mentioned above. The weekly Canadian Social Research Links Poverty Dispatch Digest is a compilation, available online, of the two dispatch e-mails for that week --- with the kind permission of IRP.

Here's the complete collection of U.S. media articles in this week's Poverty Dispatch Digest:
(click the link above to read all of these articles)

September 1, 2005
Today's subjects include:  Poverty Statistics - Census Annual Report // Health Insurance Coverage // Income Inequality - Editorial // Food Stamps - Opinion // State Education Legislation // Poverty Statistics - Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin // Working Poor - Wisconsin // Welfare Caseload - New York // Health Care Program - Tennessee // Medicaid - Florida // Uninsured - Ohio // No Child Left Behind Act - Iowa // Homelessness - California

August 29, 2005
Today's subjects include: Raising Questions about Poverty Data // Proposed Cuts in Entitlement Programs // Legal Aid for the Poor // Governors' Medicaid Plan - Opinion // Food Stamp Program - Editorials // Assessment of Welfare Reform - Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Carolina // Life Below the Poverty Level - Illinois // Poverty Ranking - Cleveland // Call for Addressing Needs of the Poor - New Jersey // Child Care Subsidies - Kansas // Academic Achievement Gap - Wisconsin // Child Health Insurance Enrollment - Louisiana // Medicaid Cuts - Missouri // Aftermath of Cuts in State Health Plan - Tennessee // Status of Computerized Benefits System - Colorado // Use of Food Stamps - North Carolina // Rural Homelessness - Wisconsin // Appalachian Poverty

Each of the weekly digests below offers dozens of links or more to media articles that are time-sensitive.
The older the link, the more likely it is to either be dead or have moved to an archive - and some archives [but not all] are pay-as-you-go.
[For the current week's digest, click on the POVERTY DISPATCH Digest link above]

Subscribe to the Poverty Dispatch!
Send an e-mail message to John Wolf < jwolf@ssc.wisc.edu > to receive a plain text message twice a week with one to two dozen links to media articles with a focus on poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, health, Medicaid from across the U.S.
And it's free...

Source:
Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)
[ University of Wisconsin-Madison ]

For the current week's digest, click on the POVERTY DISPATCH Digest link at the top of this section.
Recently-archived POVERTY DISPATCH weekly digests:

POVERTY DISPATCH description/archive - weekly issues back to October 2004 , 50+ links per issue
NOTE: this archive is part of the Canadian Social Research Links American Non-Governmental Social Research page.

- Go to the Links to American Government Social Research page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (M-Z) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us3.htm

New from the U.S. Census Bureau:

Income Stable, Poverty Rate Increases, Percentage of Americans
Without Health Insurance Unchanged
Press Release
August 30, 2005
"Real median household income remained unchanged between 2003 and 2004 at $44,389, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Meanwhile, the nation’s official poverty rate rose from 12.5 percent in 2003 to 12.7 percent in 2004. The percentage of the nation’s population without health insurance coverage remained stable, at 15.7 percent in 2004. The number of people with health insurance increased by 2.0 million to 245.3 million between 2003 and 2004, and the number without such coverage rose by 800,000 to 45.8 million. These findings are contained in the Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004 [PDF] report. The report’s data were compiled from information collected in the 2005 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS)."

Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance
Coverage in the United States: 2004 (PDF file - 3.6MB, 85 pages)
"This report presents data on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States based on information collected in the 2005 and earlier Annual Social and Economic Supplements (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau." [there's more detailed info about ASEC and CPS in the report.]

Related Links from the Census Bureau:

Income, Earnings, and Poverty from the
2004 American Community Survey (PDF file - 1.4MB, 24 pages)
"This report looks at information on income, earnings, and poverty collected in the 2004 American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is a new approach to collecting reliable, timely information needed by local communities. It will replace the decennial census long form in future censuses and is a critical element in the Census Bureau’s 2010 Decennial Census Program. Like the long form it is designed to replace, the ACS collects detailed demographic, socioeconomic, and housing information."

Press kit / Reports
Income data
Poverty data
Health insurance coverage data
American Community Survey data

Source:
U.S. Census Bureau

Poverty Statistics
- includes links to : * Poverty Home * Overview * Publications * Definitions * Thresholds * Microdata Access * Related Sites * FAQ

------------------------------------------
Google News search Results : "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004"
Google Web Search Results : "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004"
Source:
Google.ca
------------------------------------------

Related Links from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

STATEMENT BY ROBERT GREENSTEIN ON ADMINISTRATION
MISCHARACTERIZATIONS REGARDING THE ECONOMY AND
NEW DATA ON POVERTY, INCOME, AND HEALTH INSURANCE
August 31, 2005
"Yesterday, the Census Bureau released data that showing that in 2004 — the third full year of the economic recovery — poverty increased, the earnings of full-time workers fell, the income of the typical non-elderly household also fell, and the number of Americans lacking health insurance rose. In the past 24 hours, the Administration has made several statements on the new Census poverty and income data that incorrectly claim or suggest that performance on these measures in 2004 was par for the course for this point in an economic recovery."
HTML version:
http://www.cbpp.org/8-31-05pov-stmt.htm
PDF version:
http://www.cbpp.org/8-31-05pov-stmt.pdf, 1pp.

ECONOMIC RECOVERY FAILED TO BENEFIT MUCH OF THE POPULATION IN 2004
August 30, 2005
"Despite the fact that 2004 represented the third full year of economic recovery, the Census data released today show that poverty increased again last year and median income failed to rise."
HTML version:
http://www.cbpp.org/8-30-05pov.htm
PDF version:
http://www.cbpp.org/8-30-05pov.pdf, 4pp.

THE NUMBER OF UNINSURED AMERICANS CONTINUED TO RISE IN 2004
"Data released today by the Census Bureau show that the number of uninsured Americans stood at 45.8 million in 2004, an increase of 800,000 people over the number uninsured in 2003 (45.0 million). The percentage of people without health insurance, 15.7 percent in 2004, was not significantly different from the 15.6 percent rate in 2003."
August 30, 2005
HTML version:
http://www.cbpp.org/8-30-05health.htm
PDF version:
http://www.cbpp.org/8-30-05health.pdf, 4pp.

- Go to the Poverty Measures Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty.htm
- Go to the Links to American Government Social Research page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us.htm

UNHAPPY ANNIVERSARY:
Federal Minimum Wage Remains Unchanged for Eighth Straight Year, Falls to 56-Year Low Relative to the Average Wage
"September 1 marks eight years since the last federal minimum wage increase. In that time, its purchasing power has fallen 17 percent. Compared to average private sector wages, the minimum wage has sunk to its lowest point since 1949."

Unhappy Anniversary, a new report by Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and Isaac Shapiro, associate director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, examines the shrunken state of the minimum wage.
September 1, 2005

HTML version:
http://www.cbpp.org/9-1-05mw.htm
PDF version:
http://www.cbpp.org/9-1-05mw.pdf, 5pp

Source:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Related Link:

Raising the National Minimum Wage: Information, Opinion, Research - U.S., international
This is the personal web of Brock Haussamen, an English professor at Raritan Valley Community College in North Branch, New Jersey. The site's purpose is "to provide those concerned about the federal minimum wage with an organized guide to the different sides of the issue". Professor Haussamen's position can be found on the Indexing page of his site --- he supports indexing the minimum wage. [So do I for Canada, applying the same logic to Canadian minimum wages.]
- incl. links to : Basics - The Case For - The Case Against - Indexing - Research - U. S. - Other Countries - Contact Me

- Go to the Minimum Wage /Living Wage Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/minwage.htm

Disclaimer/Privacy Statement

Both Canadian Social Research Links (the site) and this Canadian Social Research Newsletter belong solely to me, Gilles Séguin.

I am solely accountable for the choice of links presented therein and for the occasional editorial comment - it's my time, my home computer, my experience, my biases, my Rogers Internet account and my web hosting service.

I administer the mailing list and distribute the weekly newsletter using software on the web server of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Thanks, CUPE!

If you wish to subscribe to the e-mail version of newsletter, go to the Canadian Social Research Newsletter Online Subscription page and submit your coordinates:
http://lists.cupe.ca/mailman/listinfo/csrl-news

You can unsubscribe by going to the same page or by sending me an e-mail message [ gilseg@rogers.com ]

------------------------

The e-mail version of this newsletter is available only in plain text (no graphics, no hyperlinks, no fancy bolding or italics, etc.) to avoid security problems with government departments, universities and other networks with firewalls. The text-only version is also friendlier for people using older or lower-end technology.

Privacy Policy:
The Canadian Social Research Newsletter mailing list is not used for any purpose except to distribute each weekly issue.
I promise not share any information on this list, nor to send you any junk mail.

Links presented in the Canadian Social Research Newsletter point to different views about social policy and social programs.
There are some that I don't agree with, so don't get on my case, eh...

To access earlier online HTML issues of the Canadian Social Research Newsletter, go to the Newsletter page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/news.htm

Please feel free to distribute this newsletter as widely as you wish, but please remember to include a link back to the home page of Canadian Social Research Links.

Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com

----------------------------------------------------

Cat Lovers' Section:

http://www.stuffonmycat.com/
http://catsinsinks.com/

----------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------



The Worst Jobs in History 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
   "In this website, we take you on a journey through 2,000 years of
   British history and the worst jobs of each era." Features humorous
   descriptions of jobs such as Roman gold miner, leech collector,
   fishwife, and child chimney sweep. Also includes information about
   current offbeat careers, and links to related sites. From Great
   Britain's Channel 4 Television.

  http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/W/worstjobs/

Source:
http://lii.org