2009 see big jump in assistance
A relentless recession saw Ontario welfare cases swell in 2009.
Social assistance numbers jumped by more than 63,000 cases to 365,300 people, a 20% increase from 2008.
Simcoe County had its own case spike this past year, with a whopping 40.7% increase from September 2008 to September 2009.
"We`ve had a significant increase in (welfare) caseloads," said Terry Talon, the county`s general manager of social services, noting that the recession is mostly to blame.
"It could be these people are waiting for employment insurance to kick in, or they don`t qualify for EI," she said.
Although the county`s caseloads were higher, Talon said its numbers are still better than the province`s.
"We looked at our percentage of people on Ontario Works, and ours is 1.398%," she said.
That`s still significantly lower than the provincial case average of 1.8%
The Ministry of Community and Social Services said although the 365,319 welfare cases in the province seems like a lot, it still falls short of the 1.3 million Ontarians on the dole during the recession of the early 1990s.
Talon said the county`s high increase is still alarming, and there are programs in place to help provide financial aid and a way off welfare for struggling residents.
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