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When it comes to B.C.’s low-income earners, the latest census figures tell a tale of stagnation and a lack of progress in reducing inequality despite an economic boom.

According to Statistics Canada, 15.5 per cent of the B.C. population, or 694,960 people, were in what it called “low income” levels in 2015, about the same as 2005’s 15.4 per cent.

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But at a time when B.C.’s real GDP per capita posted a 12.2 per cent increase over the same time period, the statistics show people in the bottom half of the income distribution are getting left behind, said senior economist Iglika Ivanova of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in B.C.

“You have a booming economy and the poverty rate is not budging at all. What this shows is that economic growth and job creation alone are not enough to tackle poverty.”

Statistics Canada uses a measurement called the low-income measure after tax, which identifies a household as low income if its income is less than half the median income of all households adjusted by family size.