The pay scale for this BC job differs depending on where you live
BC’s new salary transparency law kicked in at the end of last year, providing some much-needed wage clarity in the dreaded job hunt. But, one recent job posting has turned some heads with the listed salary. Or, should we say, salaries.
United Way BC recently advertised for a Senior Communications Specialist to “promote awareness of United Way’s work and to increase traditional and digital media coverage and engagement.”
The position is located in the Lower Mainland and offers $88,502.29 annually for those who live around the area or in the Fraser Valley region. Applicants outside these regions are less fortunate as the salary sees nearly a $10,000 drop, with the annual wage posted at $79,874.95 if you live in other BC regions.
That’s an interesting way of taking the cost of living into account.
“United Way BC is proud to be a Living Wage employer, and to have been recently named as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers,” Shaffina Hirji, director of people and culture for United Way BC, told Daily Hive. ” Wages for positions within our organization are offered in accordance with our Collective Agreement, which includes regional variances.”
Living wages across BC greatly vary, and the current living wage for Metro Vancouver is $25.68 per hour, calculated by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Metro Vancouver’s living wage was just $20.52 back in 2021, and now it’s almost $10 more than BC’s minimum wage of $16.75 per hour.
If the varying salaries are based on the cost of living variance across the province, it raises questions about why the Fraser Valley region is included in the higher salary band when other regions have higher living wages.
Living Wages for Families BC reports that the current living wage for residents in the Fraser Valley region is $20.66 per hour. This amount is a far cry from the living wages in other BC regions, such as the Sunshine Coast’s $25.61 per hour living wage or Kelowna’s $24.60 per hour living wage.
United Way BC’s wage bands stem from a provincial amalgamation in 2021, when the former United Way Lower Mainland banded together with six other United Ways across the province.
The posting doesn’t say where the boundaries are for the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley regions.
With files from Megan Devlin.
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