As inflation reaches a 40-year high, to keep up with the cost of living a new living wage for families on the Sunshine Coast is estimated to be $24.30 an hour. Meanwhile, the minimum wage in B.C. is $15.65 per hour.
Just last year, the Sunshine Coast Foundation and Living Wage for Families BC reported the living wage to be $19.79 per hour as of January 2021. Now Coasters must make $4.51 more per hour — a 22.8 per cent increase.
In all B.C. communities where living wages have been calculated before, the living wage has increased. Among more than 20 communities, the Sunshine Coast ranks as the third highest living wage among the updated 2022 estimates, surpassing Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria. Haida Gwaii claimed the top spot with a living wage of $25.87, while Golden was in second place at $25.56 per hour. Powell River is calculated at $23.33.
In an update released by the Foundation on Feb. 22, the provincial manager of Living Wage for Families, Anastasia French, said it comes as no surprise to see such big increases. Housing is the biggest expense in a family’s budget. The median monthly rent for a “modest” three-bedroom on the Coast (including insurance, utilities and internet) has risen 10.6 per cent to $2,217.89.
Top three expenses
While for many other B.C. communities, the most rapidly increasing costs are food and shelter, the situation on the Coast is slightly different, Emily Schach, the communications and grants administrator for the Foundation, told Coast Reporter.
The order of top expenses for Coast families is: shelter, childcare, food. Groceries have spiked by 27.4 per cent since 2021, taking up an estimated $1,238.15 in a family’s monthly budget. While food costs increased the most percentage wise, it still didn’t eclipse local childcare costs, which may be due to fewer childcare options on the Coast.
The living wage is based on two parents working 35 hours per week to support the basic needs of a family of four. In the 2021 report, the Foundation and Living Wage for Families BC said the $19.79 wage was conservative. The calculation does not include debt repayment nor long-term savings for education, retirement or a down payment on a home. The calculation guide is used province-wide, so also does not include budgeting for any necessary off-Coast appointments. The 2021 report also highlighted the “drastically” increasing cost of new rental listings in recent years.
“Life on the Coast is increasingly expensive, and we know that more and more families are turning to local charities to meet their essential needs,” the foundation’s board chair, Manjit Kang, said in a release. “The sizeable increase in the living wage helps explain how much they are falling behind.”
Prior to this year, policy changes introduced by the provincial government, such as child care investments and eliminating MSP premiums, helped families with young children. Those savings “have now been effectively wiped out by ballooning rent and food costs,” Iglika Ivanova, senior economist at the B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said in the report.
“Good public policy can make life more affordable for families and when government transfers don’t keep up with the rising cost of living, the families hardest hit are headed by already marginalized earners, including single mothers, Indigenous people and recent immigrants,” Ivanova added.
Who pays a living wage?
On the Sunshine Coast, there are six certified living wage employers: Jenkins Construction Ltd., Haley Dodge, Pender Harbour Community School Society, the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden Society, and Habetin Homes Ltd. The Sunshine Coast Foundation became the first local employer to be certified, in February 2022.
Schach said Living Wage for Families BC will reach out to the employers who are already registered to advise them of the new calculated living wage. The organization has a calculator to help employers determine how to update their hourly wage.
