Windsor and surrounding area may boast low jobless numbers, but new data suggests what residents earn has been on the decline.
The latest figures from the 2016 census show income growth in the automotive hub of Windsor fared worst of all Ontario cities, with median household income actually dropping 6.4 per cent to about $59,000 between 2005 and 2015.
Windsor-Essex lost more than 14,000 manufacturing jobs during that ten-year period.
Social advocates suggest that drop is why 24 per cent of Windsor's children live in poverty. That's one in four kids.
But the Conference Board of Canada says the local economy has rebounded. In fact, the group predicts the region will enjoy economic growth of 2.5 per cent this year.
That is the highest in the country, along with Oshawa.
“Our region's starting to recover, but it's not all the way back to where it was prior to the great recession," says Frazier Fathers of the United Way/Centraide of Windsor-Essex County.
Fathers points out when manufacturing jobs left the city, they were replaced with lower-paying jobs, and as earnings dropped, the cost of living went up.
The census also shows income growth in Ontario from 2005 to 2015 was the worst in the country.
Statistics Canada says Ontario’s median household income rose by just 3.8 per cent over the last decade to $74,287, thanks to a decline in manufacturing.
The United Way in Windsor-Essex is compiling this data, and says it target future investments into the most 'at risk'segments of the city.
But Fathers tells CTV Windsor they also need willing partners to help buck this trend.
"This is unacceptable that the city of Windsor has one in three children under the age of six living in poverty,” states Fathers.
