POVERTY: Advocacy groups call for ‘living wage’
By Rachel Stern - Nanaimo News Bulletin
November 23, 2010

Advocacy groups around the province are calling for cities and corporations to establish a living wage as more B.C. families find themselves struggling to make ends meet.

New Westminster was the first Canadian city to enact a living wage bylaw earlier this year, requiring the city and all contractors to pay a certain level of compensation. Nanaimo city council hasn’t discussed the issue…

The premise of the living wage is that full-time work should allow households to cover basic needs, like rent, food and clothing….

The report, Working for a Living Wage: Making Paid Work Meet Basic Family Needs in Metro Vancouver conducted by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives: B.C. Office, states most families are getting a smaller slice of the economic pie despite working longer hours and getting more education.

It goes on to describe how low-wage earning families face impossible choices, live with anxiety, have long-term health problems and spiralling debt just to cover basics.

The report found a family with two working parents and two children aged four to seven working 35 hours per week would need to earn $18.17 an hour in Metro Vancouver and $17.31 an hour in Victoria. …

Living wage ‘bare bones budget’

The budget – from Working For a Living Wage: 2010 Update – is an estimate for a family in Metro Vancouver with two parents earning $18.17 per hour, or $33,069 each annually.

Food: $756 per month, based on estimates from the Dietitians of Canada.

Clothing: $187 per month.

Shelter: $1,346 per month, includes a rent estimate for a three-bedroom apartment, utilities, telephone and content insurance.

Transportation: $442 per month, which includes two bus passes and the cost of owning and operating a used car.

Child care: $1,096 per month, for a four-year old in full-time care, a seven year old in after-school care and six weeks of summer care.

Medical Service Plan premiums: $114 per month.

Non-MSP health care: $113 per month, for Pacific Blue Cross Insurance.

Parents education: $88 per month, allowing for two college courses a year.

Contingency fund: $212 per month, to provide some savings for emergency situations.

Other: $689 per month, includes personal care items, furniture, household items, school supplies and minimum recreation and entertainment.

Total: $5,043