This report explores data on Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) taken from the open.alberta.ca portal.
Caseload experiences a stunted growth after the onset of COVID ( ~ March of 2020) (see Gender). This may be explained by the introduction of the $2,000 monthly assistance to the unemployed due to COVID in April of 2020.
This explanation is corroborated in the caseload trends by Medical Condition: after April 2020 clients with Physical Disability exhibited a more pronounced plateau than those with Cognitive or Mental Illness Disorders.
This trend (stunted growth of caseloads after April 2020) is more pronounced in South and Central regions (see Regions).
Employment Participation (Income) drops precipitously after April 2020, but recovers to December 2019 levels by the end of 2021.
Some of the observed trends are too drastic to invite an intuitive explanation and therefore are suspect of a data entry issue
North Central and North West exhibit (see Regions) unnatural change from May to June of 2020. It’s as if the data entry was swapped for them starting with June 2020.
There is an aberration in caseload among Childless Couples and Couples with Children (see Family Composition) for the month of April 2020. These are so uncharacteristic of the preceding and following trajectory that we suspect a data entry.
The same month, April 2020 stands out when caseload is broken by Client Average Age. Clients of Age 65+ exhibit a sharp spike in case counts, while clients of Age 18 - 19 show a sharp depression for that month. Other age groups (e.g. 20-24, 45-49, 50-54) also exhibit unnatural patterns for the month of April 2020 that deviate sharply from previous and following trajectories.