False assumptions about minimum wage
Re Wage hike will bring province down, Letter, June 27 Letter writer Tom Whent is long on hyperbole and low on facts in his assertion that Ontario’s move to a $15 minimum hourly wage by 2019 will “unrealistically compensate” unskilled workers and negatively “reverberate throughout the province’s economy,” while removing any incentive for workers to improve themselves.
Here are a few facts on the reality of family life in the low-pay lane of Toronto’s current economy, provided by Numbeo, the world’s largest database of user-contributed costs: The average monthly price of a three-bedroom apartment outside the city centre is $2042; a monthly transit pass costs $141; and basic utilities are $125. That totals $2,308 monthly and, guess what, includes nothing for food, clothing, health care or school costs, let alone any kind of leisure. On the other hand, a 40-hour-per-week job at $15 an hour would provide a salary of about $2,500 a month — and that’s before taxes and any workplace deductions. Assuming those items at a modest monthly $100, the allegedly overpaid $15-an-hour minimum-wage worker will find himself virtually broke after paying for just lodging, utilities and transit, still having to feed and clothe himself and his family. Yeah, I guess those circumstances would blunt my incentive — not to mention my fi- nancial ability — to improve my skills. Mr. Whent seems to share the philosophy of the unreformed Ebenezer Scrooge: “Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons?” Let’s hope his ghosts are coming. Terry O’Connor, Toronto Tom Whent makes two false assumptions. First, that those currently earning less than $15 an hour are unskilled and second, that those earning above $15 will be the ones to bear the brunt.
On the first point, there are many skilled workers earning less than $15.00 an hour, for example women working as estheticians. As for the second point, when prices go up it is the lowest paid who bear the biggest brunt, given that their income is less than others. Tim Heffernan, Toronto