What makes a living wage, and why that matters for workers across Ontario

Ontario's average living wage is now $19.72 per hour, according to a group that calculates the amount of money someone needs to make each hour to make ends meet.

The rate varies from region to region, but no matter where you are in the province the living wage is higher than minimum wage, which recently went up to $15.50. In Toronto, that figure sits at $23.15 an hour — the highest amount of all 10 regions.

CBC Toronto spoke with Craig Pickthorne, from the Ontario Living Wage Network, and Pam Frache, from the Workers' Action Centre, about why the concept of a living wage matters and what workers need to know about it — whether or not they're making that much.

Note: The Q&A below has been edited for clarity: 

Q: How does the Ontario Living Wage Network calculate what it takes to make ends meet?

A: The group uses a weighted average of costs for three different household types: two parents with two young children, a single parent with a child, and a single adult.

Pickthorne: We look at all the major, and even some of the secondary expenses, that a worker would have to cover where they live as they're working full time. So, the major ones are obviously shelter, food, transportation and child care.

But we also look at things like high-speed internet access and non-OHIP medical costs, such as prescriptions. Then we also factor in any applicable government taxes, transfers or benefits.

What you get when you do all that calculation work is an hourly wage that someone working 35 hours a week would have to make to make ends meet where they live. 

Q: Who are the people taking on minimum wage jobs?

Pickthorne: What we know is the people that are earning at the bottom scale of the wage spectrum are overwhelmingly equity-seeking groups, women, immigrants.

That's who's over represented. So, when you raise the wages of the lowest earners, that's who you're impacting the most.

Q: The lowest living wage in the report is London-Elgin-Oxford at $18.05, compared to the highest in the report, Toronto, at $23.15. Why does the gap between living wages in areas outside of the GTA and Toronto seem to be shrinking?