THUNDER BAY – Northern Ontario’s living wage has risen from $20.30 to $21.10 per hour this year, according to a new study by the Ontario Living Wage Network.
Craig Pickthorne, director of communications for the network, says the average living wage increased across the province from 3 per cent to 5.3 per cent.
The living wage is the amount of a person needs to earn to cover the costs of living in their community.
He said the cost of rent is driving the cost of living up.
“Shelter costs constitute about 30 to 35 per cent of any living wage rate, and so it has a real outsized influence on whether or not that living wage rate is going to go up over last year,” Pickthorne told Newswatch in an interview.
In the north, he said, “29.3 per cent of the average living wage rate is rent.”
“That’s a little bit lower than other places in the province. In GTA, it’s 40 per cent of the living wage rate and then of course, the other items, the internet access and mobile plans, and non-OHIP medical costs are 30 per cent of the calculation, which is more than usual as well,” Pickthorne said.
Bonnie Krysowaty, director of projects and community initiatives for Lakehead Social Planning Council, says she isn’t surprised the amount people need to earn to meet their needs has risen.
Lakehead Social Planning Council works in partnership with the Ontario Living Wage Network to provide them with data by going into northern municipalities to look at the expenses of each community.
“I think across the board, everybody in our city, for sure in Thunder Bay and in Ontario, sees costs rising all the time. Our utility costs are rising, our rent costs and the cost of buying a home is increasing. Insurance costs are increasing, and the cost of food, as we all know, is going up all the time. I don’t think anyone would be surprised to see it go up every year. I think it’s just a matter of how much we’ll see it go up at this point,” Krysowaty said.
Krysowatty hopes the provincial government will either increase minimum wage or consider offering a mandatory living wage.
“I think that it’s important for people to know that minimum wage is not effective to bring people out of poverty. And that it increases poverty, in fact, and that a living wage allows people to at least be able to pay their bills and meet the social determinants of health. There are so many benefits to that for employers and employees. There’s less absenteeism, a happier workplace, and the list goes on,” she said.
“We really like to promote the living wage because it’s the fair thing to do. It’s not appropriate to make profits off the backs of people living in poverty, and that’s an ethical viewpoint that we stand by. I think it’s important for people to understand that when people aren’t able to pay the bills, it just creates more poverty.”
On October 1, Ontario’s general minimum wage increased by 40 cents from $17.20 per hour to $17.60 per hour.
“There’s no place in the province where you can actually work a minimum wage job at full-time and be able to pay all your bills,” Pickthorne said.
He noted that one thing the provincial government can do is look at rolling back its plan to remove rent control and strengthen it.
“Rental costs are the highest, the largest slice of the living wage rate. So bring that under control, and you can actually see living wage rates not going up as much year over year,” Pickthorne said.
Northern Ontario fared better than most of the 10 regions in the report. Only one region, London-Elgin-Oxford, had a lower living wage at $21.05. The Greater Toronto Area was the highest at $27.20.
The north region was closer to the middle of the pack on the rate of increase, which ranged from 2.4 per cent to 8.3 per cent.
