THE RISING COST OF STAYING AFLOAT
A Toronto couple supporting two children both need to work full time at $18.52 an hour to make ends meet
‘I work hard and I still can’t make enough’
Child care. Rent. Food. Transit. Across the board, Torontonians are being hammered by the rising cost of living. And the price of staying afloat? That’s soaring, too.
So much so, that a Toronto couple raising two children in the city must both work full time earning $18.52 an hour each to make ends meet, says a new report on Toronto’s living wage.
The study, to be made public Friday, updates a 2008 calculation that placed the city’s living wage at $16.60, the hourly sum needed to meet local living expenses.
“(A living wage) is what’s actually required to live a healthy, sustainable life,” said the report’s author, Kaylie Tiessen.
According to the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, sharp increases in the price of basic necessities in Toronto have made it harder for working adults to support their families.
The report seeks to provide a “modest standard” that reflects the reality of everyday living in the city. It argues Ontario’s current $11 minimum wage, set to increase to $11.25 in October, is still insufficient.
Drawing largely on Statistics Canada and municipal data, the non-profit organization’s research shows a family of four in Toronto needs an annual combined employment income of about $72,000 to afford the basics, such as rent, transportation, child care, food and clothing.
Both parents would therefore have to work full time at $18.52 an hour, after taking into account taxes, government benefits and payroll deductions. The study says the introduction of universal child care and pharmacare would significantly reduce that amount.
But many working adults in the city struggle to find jobs that provide economic security, the report shows. While the Toronto area’s median wage was $21 an hour in 2013, the median wage in fast-growing sectors such as retail was only $12.95 an hour.
“We do know that purchasing power is a very important part of a strong and growing economy,” said Tiessen.
“Higher wages are associated with better health, and better health actually means more stamina for workers, more productivity, even happiness and higher well being” she said.
DUCA Credit Union has taken the same view, and adopted the think tank’s initial $16.60 living wage last fall. It will now update its policy to reflect the organization’s latest calculation. The wage increase will be applied to all 15 of the credit union’s branches in southern Ontario, which employ almost 200 people.
Jayna Vasanjee, 27, began working at a North York DUCA branch six months ago and benefitted from the salary boost. It allowed her to quit her second job and enrol in evening classes to upgrade her skills. She has since earned a promotion and fulltime hours with the credit union.
“It was a lot less stressful,” she told the Star. “Instead of working six days a week I’m now down to five, and it gives me more time to do the things that I enjoy, like hobbies, and also study, and also of course spend time with my family.”
The study also argues that a living wage could be incorporated into the City of Toronto’s existing Fair Wage policy, which sets out hourly rates for contract employees. The public sector and non-profit organizations should also consider bringing salaries in line with living wage standards.
But some labour activists say the living wage campaign must also push to raise the minimum floor for all workers across the province, not just those living in a particular city or working in specific sectors.
“The living wage is a tool and strategy that can be used when you are dealing with public institutions and wealthy employers that can afford to pay more,” said Deena Ladd of the Workers’ Action Centre. “But we also need to think about the growing number of workers who are commuting long distances and living and working in different cities.
“There is this assumption that housing costs in Peterborough, Sudbury and Barrie are lower (than Toronto.) But in many cases, they are just as high because affordable housing hasn’t been built in these cities either,” she said.
Tiessen hopes the report will highlight the rising cost of living across the province, as well as the social and economic benefits of investing in employees by paying a living wage.
“We need a whole suite of options to improve labour market conditions for our lowest paid workers,” she said.