Minimum wage workers in Edmonton need 108 hours just to cover rent
If you’re earning minimum wage in Edmonton and affording the cost of living feels like a never-ending treadmill, a new report shows how many hours it takes just to keep a roof over your head.
And it’s not looking great. Zoocasa analyzed rental data from Rentals.ca to calculate how many hours a minimum wage earner would need to work each month to cover the average one-bedroom rent in major cities across Canada.
The report used standard full-time hours, which generally fall between 160 and 173 hours per month, based on a workweek of 37.5 to 40 hours.
Minimum wage earners in only eight of the 60 Canadian cities studied in the report could cover rent by working fewer than 100 hours. In 29 cities, workers would need to put in at least 120 hours, dedicating most of a standard working month to rent alone.
In Edmonton, someone earning the province’s $15 hourly minimum wage would need to work about 108 hours to cover the average monthly rent of $1,610.
That works out to roughly 62 per cent of a working month, and that’s just for rent. That remaining income still has to cover groceries, utilities, and every other cost that comes with being alive.
Alberta’s affordability crunch was most pronounced in Airdrie, north of Calgary. A minimum wage earner there would need to work about 136 hours to cover the city’s average rent of $2,027. That is more than the 126 hours needed in Calgary, where the average rent was $1,886.
Of the other Alberta cities listed, Medicine Hat and Lloydminster required the fewest hours. A minimum wage earner in those cities would need to put in about 92 and 88 hours, respectively, to cover the average rental prices.
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At $15 per hour, Alberta has the lowest minimum wage among the provinces studied.
That means the people stocking shelves, working in kitchens, operating cash registers, cleaning, and countless other jobs necessary for keeping communities functioning are earning a lower minimum wage than workers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and every other province.
Nationally, North Vancouver required the most work. Despite B.C.’s higher minimum wage, a worker there would need to put in about 164 hours, about 95 per cent of a working month, to cover the average rent of $2,983.
Zoocasa
Workers had the easiest time covering rent in St. John’s, N.L., though “easiest” is still doing some heavy lifting.
At $16 per hour, workers would still need to put in about 74 hours, about 43 per cent of a working month, to cover the average rent of $1,172.
You can view the full report on Zoocasa’s website.