Halifax Now Has $10 Per Hour Gap Between Living and Minimum Wages
HALIFAX — The living wage in Halifax and across Nova Scotia has jumped by more than a dollar per hour within the last year, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The organization’s latest study, released on September 7, claims that a person must make $23.50 to live comfortably in Halifax. In other areas of the province, the living wage ranges from $20-$22.55 per hour. All regions saw a jump between five and eight percent over the last year.
The minimum wage in Nova Scotia is now $13.35 an hour, meaning a minimum wage worker in Halifax is making a full $10 less an hour than they need to pay for a decent quality of life.
Every time a new report comes out from CCPA about the increase in the living wage, it brings about calls for change, especially with raising the minimum wage. This time is no different.
“Wages that workers earn in Nova Scotia have to relate to the reality of workers’ lives,” says Suzanne McNeil of Justice for Workers Nova Scotia.
“Every single region, pretty much everyone is above $20 an hour [for a living wage]. Considering the tumultuous economic climate over the past couple years, it wasn’t terribly surprising to see that.”
According to the report, roughly half of Nova Scotians are not making a living wage. It notes that “low-wage” jobs make up a large chunk of the provincial workforce, with 8.1 percent earning minimum wage and 10 percent making under $15 an hour.
The CCPA defines a living wage as “how much a household must earn to cover all necessities and allow families to enjoy a decent quality of life. The wage should be enough for the family to avoid severe financial stress, support the healthy development of their children, and participate in their social, civic, and cultural communities.”
This year’s big jump in the living wage has come from the non-stop rise in inflation over the past year. According to the report, the cost of goods went up 9.3 percent since July of 2021, while the average income only increased by 4.1 percent.
That means even with a wage increase, most workers in nova Scotia would feel as if they received a five percent wage deduction after paying for their essentials.
And it doesn’t look like that gap will close any time soon. The provincial plan is to increase minimum wage gradually until it hits $15 by April of 2024. After that, minimum wage will increase along with the CPI, plus one percent.
Given the growing gap between the minimum wage and a living wage, advocates have been calling on government to drastically increase the minimum wage to $20 per hour. Justice for Workers Nova Scotia has created a petition for the province to do just that.
“It’s hard to be able to get ahead when you’re earning below $20 an hour,” says McNeil. “People are worried about paying their rent, about putting food on the table, and worried about paying for childcare.”
“It’s good to see these increases — it’s better than nothing — but considering everything going on in the province…$15 an hour in two years is not going to get us where we need to be fast enough.”
With the price of daily essentials like food also skyrocketing, there are those who believe it’s time to control the prices of certain items. Nova Scotia and other jurisdictions have already done that with a rent cap within the housing market. But people who are suffering from inflation still are at the mercy of grocery stores when it comes to food prices, which continues to go up.
“When we talk about food and housing, we’re talking about the very minimum essentials of things people need to live. People need to be able to eat, people need to be able to put a roof over their heads,” McNeil notes.
“I think we need to look at all options on how to do that for people. Right now, Loblaws has posted record profits throughout the pandemic. There comes a time when we say: ‘the free market is not serving people.’”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].