A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has pegged Halifax’s “living wage” at $22.05/hour.
Christine Saulnier said it’s a clear indication to employers that minimum wage isn’t enough.
“The minimum wage is far, far too low for people, and they are definitely struggling,” she said. “Here’s an hourly wage rate that tells employers something different than what the minimum is telling them.”
The report calculated the wage based on a family of four, with both parents working and two young children, one of them in school.
However, Saulnier said it holds up for single people and many other types of families, but the number would probably be evening higher for single parents.
The three biggest items in the report’s “living wage budget,” used to calculate the $22.05/hour figure, are shelter, childcare, and food.
Those three lines alone account for 63 per cent of the budget.
The picture isn’t much better outside of the province’s urban core.
