The living wage for people in Guelph-Wellington is $21.30 according to the Ontario Living Wage Network (OLWN).
A living wage is what people who work would need to earn hourly to cover basic expenses. OLWN’s report called Calculating Ontario’s Living Wages by Anne Coleman, program manager for OLWN, was released today.
OLWN is a group of employers, employees, non-profits and researchers in the province who are advocating for living wage initiatives and aiming to change conversations about what the minimum standard wage is for low-wage workers should be, said on its website.
Guelph-Wellington, Dufferin and Waterloo, one of the areas out of 10 in the report, its living wage is only up 1.9 per cent from last year when the wage was $20.90. In 2022, the living wage for this area was $19.95.
“When we look specifically at the living wage we know that it lifts workers out of poverty and severe financial stress by providing a basic level of economic security,” said Dominica McPherson, director of Guelph and Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination, in an interview with GuelphToday.
Those who are positively impacted by wage increases are people in low-wage, precarious jobs and this includes women, racialized people, Indigenous people, newcomers and immigrants, she continued.
The living wage is calculated before tax income, it includes government benefits like the Canada Child Care Benefit, payrolls and income taxes people may pay. Data for the report is based on the census, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the Canadian Rental Housing Index, Consumer Price Index, Ontario Energy Board bill calculator, Survey of Household Spending, Ontario Nutritious Food Basket and other sources.
The data collected is based on three household types; one for two parents aged 35 with two children ages three and seven, a single parent with a child at age seven and a single adult.
The goal of OLWN is to raise wages in the province and so far there are over 640 living wage employers who have committed to pay at least the living wage, the report said.
In Guelph-Wellington there are 45 employers that are living wage certified, said McPherson. She would like to see more employers be a part of it but if already paying a living wage she would like to see them certified.
While the living wage rate is generally similar to the rate of inflation, it’s not the sole reason as to why the living wage has increased. Basic necessities contribute to annual expenses and the cost of food and shelter are the biggest expenses in the living wage calculation. The increase is mainly due to rising rent costs, read the report.
The living wage includes things like food, shelter, clothing, among other things. What it doesn’t include are things like savings for retirement, debt repayment, home ownership or children’s education savings.
“It's true that the living wage calculation may not reflect the unique needs of every person in our community, but by factoring in major expenses workers face based on the local data we have available, the living wage gets us much closer to reality than the politically set provincial minimum wage,” said McPherson.
Minimum wage in Ontario was set to $17.20 in October. With this wage a person who works full-time hours “in Guelph-Wellington falls notably short in making ends meet compared to the living wage of $21.30 per hour,” said McPherson.
The average cost for shelter for a family of four in Guelph-Wellington, Dufferin and Waterloo is $22,539, for a single parent $22,379 and for a single adult $19,913. For a single adult this number is the second highest on a list of 10 areas in Ontario from the report. The first being the Great Toronto Area at $23,641 for a single adult.
CMHC rental costs give a “conservative estimate” since its data includes all rental units so both units rented for multiple years and newly rented units to get the average cost of rent, said in the report. Rentals.ca puts out a rental report each month with rent trends across the country and gives an idea to what market rate rent costs look like. In October, the average cost for a one bedroom was $2,044 and for a two bedroom apartment $2,399, according to the rental report.
Annually, the average cost for food expenses is $12,551 for a family of four in Guelph-Wellington, Dufferin and Waterloo. For a single parent $6,042 and a single adult $4,466.
For transportation the calculation was based on rural and urban areas. Rural often have insufficient transit and it was assumed people would need a car. In an urban area with sufficient transit, for the scenarios of a family of four, single parent and single individual a mix of a car and transit passes were assumed. To provide context on the reliability of transit there was consultation with local community groups.
Car ownership, operation, gas and maintenance costs were sourced from VRM Canada and Statistics Canada and car insurance costs came through rates.ca.
For a family of four the annual cost of transportation is $10,406, for a single parent $7,584 and for a single adult assuming an adult transit pass was used instead of a car is $2,822.
Childcare for a family of four annually is $11,197 and for a single parent is $6,486.
For annual medical expenses not including OHIP, annually for a family of four is $3,293 and for life and critical illness it is $403. For a single parent it is $1,766 for medical and $199 for life and critical illness. For a single adult it is $1,176 for medical and $225 for life and critical illness.
For cellphone and internet expenses it assumes each adult needs a cellphone, a phone plan with unlimited tests and calls with a minimum two gigabytes of cellular data. As for internet, it is assumed each household would need unlimited internet access, if available, that supports a streaming service. The calculation included $16.99 for a monthly subscription to Netflix put into the internet cost. The annual cost of a cellphone for those in Guelph-Wellington, Dufferin and Waterloo is $461 and for internet it is $1,163.
In the other expenses category the amount is intended to reflect things like toiletries, personal care, furniture, household supplies, laundry supplies, school supplies, minimal recreation, entertainment family outings, birthday presents, a modest family vacation, sports and arts classes for children, some reading materials, fees and bank fees.
For a family of four it's $11,128, for a single parent it is $5,519 and for a single adult it is $3,715.
