Torontonians don’t earn enough to ‘thrive’

Even $15 minimum wage won’t allow residents to live ‘healthy life,’ study finds

Mary Hynes, 74, is a retired teacher with a stable pension plan that is adjusted to the cost of living. Still, not long ago, she had to decide whether to get new tires for her car or have her teeth fixed.

Alex Lach, 31, just started a new job in sales, and is already concerned about whether he’s going to be able to meet his economic and social goals.

Both Hynes and Lach were part of a focus group earlier this year to inform a research study looking into what it really costs to “thrive” in Toronto.

The research study was spearheaded by Nishi Kumar, 25, a junior fellow at the Wellesley Institute. Informed by her master’s degree in public health from the University of Toronto, Kumar set out to reframe the standards of social policy, which are mainly geared toward basic survival.

“Thriving,” according to Kumar, is more than the bare minimum, more than just food and shelter. It demands, what she calls, a “higher standard of living that promotes good health today and in the future.”

“It’s time to start looking beyond minimum wage and minimum survival,” agrees Hynes, “How can we have a better life as opposed to an adequate life? If all you’ve got is enough to survive, you can’t really participate in the community.”

In her report “Thriving in the City: What does it cost to live a healthy life?” Kumar found that the cost of thriving in the Greater Toronto Area for a single person aged 25 to 40 is between $46,186 and $55,432 after tax. This is more than double the current income level for an Ontario minimum wage worker ($20,000 after taxes).

A worker earning the future minimum wage of $15 per hour would also fall well short of this figure, with an after-tax income of approximately $25,500.

“In the current conditions, with the current social safety net and the current minimum wage, there’s no way you could live a healthy life in Toronto,” said Kumar.

The reason for this high total cost of thriving, according to the report, is a fuller list of bare essentials that pro- mote not just survival items such as food and shelter, but things that contribute to long-term positive mental and physical health. These include:

Transportation costs, including public transit, car payments, etc.

Additional (uninsured) health care such as dental and glasses

Personal care costs, such as laundry, haircuts and clothing

Social costs, such as cellphone plans, Wi-Fi, travel, subscriptions, money for entertainment (movie tickets, restaurant meals, etc.), and donations

Professional development costs such as continuing education, software subscriptions, networking conferences and technological purchases/maintenance

Savings and debts (student loans, credit card, etc.)

“Some of those things I think in some policy rhetoric we talk about as being add-ons, but in reality they’re not,” said Kumar. “What, of those things, can a person in today’s society give up?”

The total cost Kumar has calculated isn’t an ideal income, but illustrates “the total resources required to live a healthy life in the GTA,” according to the report. This baseline figure could be met by rising income, but also by improving public services, social programs, employer-sponsored benefits and community facilities. While both Hynes and Kumar view the rising minimum wage as a step in the right direction, it’s not enough.

“With the way its set up now, everything is temporary, and you’re responsible for everything,” Hynes said.