A sharp spike in the region’s cost of living – primarily due to soaring housing costs and highlighting the region’s affordability crisis – has led Powell River’s living wage to rise to $26.49 per hour, a 5.7 per cent increase from last year, according to a media release from Lift Community Services.
Although inflation has decreased from historic highs, cost increases for essentials continue to push up the living wage, which is calculated by Lift, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives BC office and Living Wage BC. It is the hourly rate that each of two parents working full-time must earn to support a family of four based on the actual costs of living in a particular community, the release stated.
The financial relief provided by government measures, such as affordable child-care programs and increases in income-tested benefits, was intended to help offset rising costs, but is outpaced by the rising cost of rent, according to the release.
“This year’s living wage reflects what we’re seeing and hearing in the community, that families are having a harder time affording regular, nutritious food, or having a hard time affording rent,” stated Kim Markel, Lift’s executive director. “The difference between the cost of living and how much most people are getting paid is significant, and is taking its toll on the physical, mental and emotional well-being of local families and individuals.”
Rent has been the most expensive item in the living wage family budget since the calculation was first produced, and this year is no exception, stated Iglika Ivanova, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC office senior economist and the report's lead author.
The release stated that Powell River’s living wage is calculated as $2 more than Comox Valley ($24.36) and on par with the Sunshine Coast ($26.42). Powell River’s living wage takes into consideration the cost of ferry trips many families need to take to access medical professionals or even dentists.
“Living in a semi-remote and rural community adds a cost to our daily life and this living wage reflects that reality,” stated Markel.
A strikingly large gap exists between the 2024 Powell River living wage and BC’s current minimum wage of $17.40 per hour, the release stated.
“Hundreds of thousands of BC workers earn less than the living wage and face impossible choices like buying groceries or heating the house, keeping up with bills or paying the rent on time,” stated Anastasia French, provincial manager of Living Wage BC. “Racialized workers and women are disproportionately affected by low wages in a region where the cost of living keeps climbing.”
The Powell River living wage calculation is based on the needs of two-parent families with young children, but it is also meant to support all workers, so that young adults are not discouraged from having children because of low wages and older workers have extra income as they age, stated Markel.
“The estimates we have produced, however, suggest that the living wage is likely not sufficient to support single parents and single people in Powell River,” added Markel. “In other communities, this is not the case, and we want to explore this in more detail in the future.
“The living wage affords a standard of living without the extras many of us take for granted. It does not cover credit card, loan or other debt payments, savings for retirement or for children’s future education or the costs of caring for a disabled, seriously ill or elderly family member.”
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