Mending the Safety Net: Social Assistance Reform in Alberta

Alberta’s Path to Social Assistance Reform

• Alberta’s social assistance programs have been the fastest growing among provincial income support programs with caseloads doubling between 2008 and 2019.
• High clawback rates and low earnings exemptions decrease the likelihood of recipients bouncing out of the social safety net and back into the labour market.
• “Rather than improving social assistance through stricter eligibility criteria for access to benefits,” said co-author Parisa Mahboubi, “support programs should focus on increasing work incentives, reducing the cost of returning to work, and tackling other barriers to employment.”