Living wage in Manitoba’s major centres higher than new scheduled minimum wage: report

New data from the Manitoba Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) shows that while the province plans to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next two years, more could still be done.

The CCPA calculated what it thinks should be the living wage for families of four in Winnipeg, Brandon, and Thompson.

The family of four would be a two-income household that has two young children.

To calculate the living wage expenses, the CCPA used data up to January 2022, and didn’t include any government transfer changes or cost of living increases after Dec. 31, 2021.

WINNIPEG

In Winnipeg, the CCPA says a family of four would require a wage of $18.34 an hour, which is the highest among the three cities on the list.

The organization said the number is higher because of the increased cost of renting an apartment.

The CCPA said the average cost for shelter is $1,733, while an average monthly food bill would be $930.

The data also looks at childcare costs, transportation, a contingency fund, health and dental insurance, clothing, phone, internet and household expenses and student loans for the parents.

The data does not cover debt and interest payments, saving for retirement, owning a home, saving for children’s education, recreation events, caring for sick or disabled family members, and spending for emergencies.

“The living wage in Winnipeg went up by 14 per cent in Winnipeg over the 2020 figure,” said Niall Harney, who is the Errol Black Chair in Labour Issues for the CCPA.

“A lot of that is driven by increases in rent costs. So, rents are increasing the most out of any of the basics that families have to pay for. But the costs for transportation are also going up, the costs of food are going up and these are all contributing to the household expenses that are being put on the back of workers and ultimately translates to higher wages required to pay for those expenses.”

Harney notes the minimum wage increase over the next two years is a good step in Manitoba and shows the government understands the importance of a livable wage.

He said if the government doesn’t want to push the wage up to $18.34 an hour as the data shows, there are other steps they can take.

“These include government and public services, like universal, low-cost childcare, cheap public transportation, recreation services. These all bring down the costs that families have to pay to meet their basic needs.”

He added other government subsidies could also help lower costs for families.

BRANDON

The City of Brandon had the lowest wage needed according to CCPA. It said a family of four would need $28,501 a year or $15.66 a month.

Shelter again was the most expensive cost at $1,423, followed by phone, internet and household expenses at $956.

Food was listed at $898.

Many of the other expenses were similar to what was needed in Winnipeg.

THOMPSON

Thompson was a bit higher than Brandon at $16.25 an hour, which comes to a total of $29,575 a year.

Shelter was the cheapest of the three cities at $1,233, while the price of food was the same as Brandon.

However, Thompson had the highest phone, internet and household expenses category at $1,344.

Clothing was also more expensive than in the other cities at $233.

CCPA said all these figures are based on “bare-bones budgets” and don’t include prices for things that they say people take for granted.