Ontario's new living wage numbers are out and the network says minimum wage still doesn't cut it

Inflation may be cooling, but it still costs more to live in Ontario than it did last year largely because of rent, says a network pushing for higher wages. 

In Hamilton, you need to earn at least $21.30 per hour to afford a reasonable standard of living, the Ontario Living Wage Network (OLWN) has calculated. That's what the organization has set as the new living wage in the city.

That's 2.4 per cent more than last year, when the living wage increased almost 11 per cent compared to 2022.

A living wage is the hourly pay workers need to make ends meet and participate in their community, the network says. It differs from Ontario's minimum wage, which went up on Oct. 1 to $17.20 per hour. 

Living wage rates across the province have increased 3.4 per cent over last year on average, the OLWN said in a news release on Nov. 14. 

In the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Niagara region, the new living wage is $20.90, said the OLWN. In the Greater Toronto Area, which includes Burlington, the rate is now $26, which is the highest in the province.

The biggest jump occurred in southwestern Ontario, which includes Windsor and Sarnia. There, the living wage rose to $19.85, which is 6.4 per cent more than last year, said OLWN.

Craig Pickthorne, network spokesperson, told CBC Hamilton that the minimum wage does not match the living wage anywhere in Ontario.

"[The living wage is] what we consider to be the absolute floor," Pickthorne said, adding that employers should view it as a starting point. 

"There's no place in the province that you can work a full-time job [at minimum wage] ... [and] be able to make ends meet," he said. "You're going to have to work extra jobs."

Unlike minimum wage, which is set by the province, the living wage is created using calculations by the OLWN based on the after-tax amount that people in three types of households would need for a basket of goods and services if working 35 hours per week. 

The three types of households the network considers are two parents aged 35 with two children aged seven and three, a single parent with a seven-year-old, and a single adult. 

The basket includes rent, food, child care, transportation, medical, savings for some time off work, and an emergency fund. It does not include repaying debt or saving to buy a home.

The wage calculation takes into account social assistance such as the Canada Child Benefit and is based on a weighted average of the three family types, using census data.