The hourly wage needed to live comfortably in Nova Scotia is at an all-time high, according to a new report.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Nova Scotia released its annual report Wednesday, which shows the living wage – considered as the minimum hourly wage earned in a 35-hour work week that would meet the current cost of living – has jumped by five to eight per cent across the province since 2021.
“It was quite stark to see how much the living wages were up,” Suzanne MacNeil with Justice for Workers NS says
The report calculated the wage based on a family of four, with both parents working and two young children, one of them in school. But the findings hold up for many other types of families, the report says.
MacNeil says if wages don’t increase, our systems will continue to be overburdened.
“We see it in our hospitals, in our healthcare systems because the impact of low wages leads to worse health outcomes.”
MacNeil says some of the lowest paid workers, such as early childhood educators, provide the most benefit to our society.
“People who are doing really important jobs… without whom our economy would cease to function… and yet these workers are not valued in terms of the dollars they’re able to take home on their paycheck.”
In the Halifax Regional Municipality, you need to make $23.50/ hour to meet your basic needs with the current cost of living. That compares to $20/hour in Cape Breton and $22.50/hour in southern Nova Scotia.
The three biggest items in the report’s “living wage budget,” used to calculate the hourly wage required, are shelter, childcare, and food.
Those three expenses account for 66 per cent of the average household budget, compared to 63 per cent in 2021.
Nova Scotia has the second-lowest average weekly earnings in the country just ahead of Prince Edward Island.
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