If you are a senior and living alone in Yellowknife, there is a higher chance you may not be able to cover your basic living costs.
The NWT Seniors Society released its first report called A Living Income for Seniors in the Northwest Territories on Friday. The report, put together by economist Michel Haener of Grand Prairie, compiled basic costs that seniors - or people living over the age of 60 - face in the NWT and how it relates to the income they take in.
Haener, who did a similar report recently on the Living Wage in the North, examined the figures between January and March and looked at four communities in the NWT, including Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Hay River, and Inuvik.
Haener showed that in Yellowknife, seniors in a a couple on average, who owned their residences, had a total annual income after tax of $41,422, which exceeded a calculated Living Income Benchmark of 38,188. However, she also showed that seniors living alone, who typically rented their residences, on average took in a total annual income after tax of $30,437. The difference of $2,829 calculated living income benchmark of $33,266. - leaving an "income gap" of $2,829.
More to come.......