'Impossible trade-offs': Over a third of B.C. workers aren't making enough to live
B.C.’s lowest-paid workers received a boost to the minimum wage starting on June 1, but a new report is shining a light on the increasing gap between pay and the cost of living in the province.
BC Policy Solutions and Living Wage BC recently released a report highlighting Statistics Canada data showing that a third of B.C. workers earn less than the living wage in their communities.
According to Living Wage BC, the minimum wage of $18.25 an hour is over $3 per hour below the lowest living wage in the province, $21.55 in Grand Forks.
“In B.C.’s largest cities, Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria, the gap between the minimum wage and the living wage is over $9 per hour,” wrote Living Wage BC.
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“Even with regular minimum wage increases tied to inflation, far too many B.C. workers continue to earn less than it costs to live in our province. This is not a question of individual effort — it reflects a widening gap between what jobs pay and what it costs to live in B.C.”
The living wage is the hourly income that is needed for a worker to cover their basic, essential expenses, which include food, housing, child care, and transportation, without relying on government subsidies.
Living wage is location-specific, and in Metro Vancouver, the living wage is $27.85 per hour, almost $10 per hour more than the minimum wage.
The B.C. Ministry of Labour points out that there was no increase for nine consecutive years between 2002 and 2010, and there was no increase in 2013 or 2014.
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According to BC Policy Solutions and Living Wage BC, over 775,000 people earn less than the minimum wage in their communities.
“People who don’t earn a living wage face impossible trade-offs,” added BC Policy Solutions in the joint report. “Buy groceries or heat the house, keep up with bills or pay the rent on time.
“The result can be spiralling debt, constant financial anxiety and long-term health problems. It often means working long hours, sometimes at multiple jobs, just to pay for necessities.”
The report, titled “Not making enough to live,” calls upon businesses across the province to become living wage employers, and for the government to step up to help address “B.C.’s serious affordability crisis.”
“Coordinated action from all levels of government is needed to raise wages and lower cost pressures so that all workers can thrive,” the report stated.
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B.C.’s minimum wage is the highest in Canada aside from Nunavut, though the cost of living remains top of mind for residents.
In recent years, B.C. has tied increases to the province’s average inflation rate from the previous year.
“Working people in our province are feeling the pressure of inflation,” said Jennifer Whiteside, minister of labour, in a statement.
Hashem Aboulhosn, the chief growth officer at Merchant Growth, said the minimum wage increase is happening during a tough time for small businesses in B.C.
“The 40 cents on its own may not seem like such a big deal, but when it’s the third or fourth wave that’s buffeting small businesses, they feel it much more acutely,” Aboulhosn said.
Merchant Growth recently surveyed B.C. businesses and found that in the last year, 38 per cent of B.C. businesses didn’t pass on any added costs to customers, while 28 per cent passed on less than a quarter of added costs.