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Poverty reduction is a complex task. We investigate whether the position of single-parent families and single working-age adults has improved in a political context that has—at least rhetorically—prioritized poverty reduction across all higher-level jurisdictions in Canada. Both groups experience very high poverty rates. We analyze income poverty changes from 1999 to 2017 in a relative sense (compared to the typical Canadian) and an absolute sense (purchasing power). Controlling for demographic and regional characteristics, we find that the poverty disadvantage declined for both groups. Improvements for single-parent families were strong and widespread across provinces. Those for single adults of working age were smaller and more concentrated in provinces experiencing stronger economic growth. These results support the claim that governments prioritized the inclusion of families with dependent children while the inclusion of single working-age adults was largely left to the fortunes of the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

North America lags behind in the use of outcome-based indicators such as material deprivation to study child poverty. Instead, income indicators dominate research and policy making. A large body of international research concludes that income poverty and material deprivation are complementary indicators because each measures specific but related aspects of material well-being. For children this distinction is even more pertinent because children have specific needs and their material circumstances affect both their current and future well-being. This research uses data from Ontario to investigate whether material deprivation also contributes to a better understanding of child poverty in North America. It shows that the choice of poverty indicator affects estimates of the level of child poverty, its correlates, and the success of policy interventions in reaching poor children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]