‘Nowhere near enough’: Locals weigh in on Metro Vancouver living wage

The new living wage in Metro Vancouver has been estimated at $25.68 — which Living Wage for Families BC determines as what a family would need to make hourly to cover the basics — and people living in the city say that’s “nowhere near enough” to survive.

“You need double that to live here,” one person told CityNews.

“Even if me and my husband, we are working, still that’s not enough for us, to raise… or live comfortably…with that amount,” another said.

“I’m just a single person, so no child or anything. I earn $17 an hour and it’s definitely not enough if you want to live downtown,” one local added.

“I think it is sad, I think people have to do two or three jobs to make ends meet.”

Living Wage for Families BC Provincial Manager Anastasia French says it measures what would be needed for a family of four, made up of two parents and two kids. She explains that the living wage would not suffice for a single parent and that the $25.68 hourly rate is on a bare-bones budget — not including things like savings for retirement, paying off debt, or vacations.

The 2023 Living Wage Report marks a 6.6 per cent jump since last year, with food and the cost of rent driving the increase. The report suggests an average family is spending an extra $400 a month on rent in 2023.

In the last two years, French says the gap between the minimum wage and living wage in B.C. has grown significantly. In Metro Vancouver, the gap is now close to $9 per hour as B.C.’s minimum wage sits at $16.75 cents per hour.

“Which — over the course of the year if you’re working full-time — works out to be a $16,000 gap of what a minimum wage worker earns and what actually they need to make ends meet,” she said.

French says 400 employers across B.C. have committed to paying their employees a living wage. Private contractor Joshua Millard says he didn’t want to start a business unless he could provide his employees with enough to get by. He says that it’s not just the ethical thing to do, but it shows results with his staff.

“The benefits we get from that are loyalty, wanting to stick around, hard work, and just the quality of work that we find we get is superb because of that,” he said.

The report says many people who are working in low-wage jobs are facing impossible choices like having to choose whether to buy groceries, heat the house, keep up with bills, or pay the rent on time.