A quarter of Canadian families are facing food insecurity even when most have a breadwinner working a permanent, full-time job, new research suggests.

Researchers from the University of Toronto’s food insecurity research program analyzed Statistics Canada income data to better understand how Canadians’ jobs affect their access to food.

Their study, published last December in the journal Canadian Public Policy, found that the main earner in two-thirds of all households experiencing food insecurity held a permanent, full-time job.

Study co-author Tim Li said the findings suggest wages aren’t keeping up with the cost of living.

“This really pushes back against any narrative that this is only about precarious work and this idea that if people just had a full-time, permanent job, then they would not be food insecure,” Li said. “We’re showing that that’s not the case.”

  • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
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    4 days ago

    I thankfully can still afford food.

    However, what’s changed is that my food options have shrunk dramatically, and where I used to be able to choose between high nutrient chemically boosted produce and organic, now I have a sparse selection of “naturally imperfect” produce that doesn’t even indicate how it was farmed.

    Essentially, back to where things were at in the 1950s but taking a significantly larger chunk out of the paycheque.