Wages vs. inflation: As costs rise, living wage advocates hope to see B.C. better address affordability
With Canada’s inflation rate hitting a 31-year high last month, people are paying a lot more for many basic needs including food and shelter, and wages have not kept up.
While B.C.’s minimum wage is set to rise next month, some living wage advocates want to see the province do more to address affordability.
For over two years now, Surrey-based power washing and cleaning company Revive Services has been a certified living wage employer. Owner and founder David Moerman said it’s helped them with recruiting and retaining employees.
“It’s getting more expensive to live here as the weeks go by, so as a business owner, I want to ensure my team is taken care of, they can pay for their fuel, pay for their groceries,” he said of his 10-person team. “If they’re not happy and taken care of outside of work, they’re not going to be the best version of themself at work, so I want to make sure they’re not stressed out financially.”
Last month, Canada’s inflation rate rose to 6.8 percent from the previous April, while average hourly wages rose 3.3 percent year over year, according to Statistics Canada.
Living Wage for Families B.C. organizer Anastasia French says the current living wage calculated for Metro Vancouver is $20.52 an hour.
“It takes into account all of the costs that a family of four has, so that’s the cost of shelter, the cost of food, child care, really the essentials,” she said.
“We’ve now nearly got 400 living wage employers across the province, which has doubled within the two years of the pandemic.”
B.C.’s minimum wage is set to rise to $15.65 cents an hour on June 1, which is the highest rate among the provinces. The increase is based on last year’s average annual inflation rate.
“On one level, any increase to the minimum wage is good,” French said. “But there is still that significant gap between the minimum wage and the living wage.”
The province has been gathering feedback on that gap, and Labour Minister Harry Bains is now waiting on a report from the Fair Wages Commission, which he said had been delayed by the pandemic.
“It should be in my hands soon,” Bains said. “And I think we will learn from that report what do we do between the living wage and the minimum wage.”
Senior policy analyst with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business Jairo Yunis said imposing more costs on small businesses could end up hurting employment.
“We acknowledge the cost of living in B.C. has skyrocketed in the last few years, but there are better ways to tackle the affordability crisis that don’t involve piling up all these costs to small businesses,” he said. “What the government can do to tackle inflation and tackle the affordability crisis should be to ease some of the supply side constraints that are partially fuelling the problem especially for instance in energy markets and housing.”
Yunis added just 46 per cent of small businesses in the province are back at their normal revenue level since the pandemic, “so we’re not out of the woods yet.”
French said her group also wants to see the government do more to address overall affordability, so that at some point the living wage could potentially come down.
“We know that the majority of families that are living in poverty in B.C. and across Canada are working, and they’re working really, really hard to try and make ends meet,” she said.
“Maybe you can’t reach all the way to the living wage right now…maybe bring your staff up slightly this year and then slightly more next year. Also it’s worth stressing that the living wage can be made up of both base wage and any additional benefits that you offer. So if you have a health and dental plan, that lowers your living wage by about a dollar an hour…if you offer any additional paid time off beyond the statutory minimums or any additional paid sick leave beyond the five days or vacation beyond the ten days, that can go towards your living wage requirements.”
French said their next living wage calculation will be made in November. Employers that are
part of the program have six months to bring workers up to the latest level in order to be certified.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Stamp prices rise for the third time in five years amid financial woes for Canada Post
Canada Post is increasing stamp prices for the third time since 2019, a move the Crown corporation says is a "reality" of its sales-based revenue structure.
BREAKING Winnipeg man admits to killing four women, claims he's not criminally responsible
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women in Winnipeg, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
Trudeau Liberals to unveil new bill Monday aimed at countering foreign interference
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc will be tabling legislation on Monday aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada. Federal officials have scheduled a technical briefing on the incoming bill for Monday afternoon.
WATCH Avian flu: Risk to humans grows as outbreaks spread, warns expert
H5N1 or avian flu is decimating wildlife around the world and is now spreading among cattle in the United States, sparking concerns about 'pandemic potential' for humans. Now a health expert is urging Canada to scale up surveillance north of the border.
Human remains were found at a former Hitler base, but decay prevents determining the cause of death
Polish prosecutors have discontinued an investigation into human skeletons found at a site where German dictator Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders spent time during the Second World War because the advanced state of decay made it impossible to determine the cause of death, a spokesman said Monday.
Italy's white-collar mafia is making a business killing
Italy's mafia rarely dirties its hands with blood these days. Extortion rackets have gone out of fashion and murders are largely frowned upon by the godfathers.
Ontario MPP asked again to leave Ontario legislature over keffiyeh, Speaker loosens ban
An Ontario MPP was asked again to leave the Ontario legislature on Monday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that was banned by the Speaker last month due to its political symbolism.
The story of how a B.C. man found his birth mother
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
Trump fined US$1,000 for gag order violation in hush money case as judge warns of possible jail time
The judge presiding over Donald Trump's hush money trial fined him US$1,000 on Monday for violating his gag order once again and sternly warned the former president that additional violations could result in jail time.