N.S. affordability crisis deepens as gap between living wage, minimum wage grows: report

globalnews.ca:

living wage calculations reflect costs in June 2023, and take into account government transfers added to the family’s income, like child benefits, as well as deductions subtracted, like taxes and EI premiums.“The wage should be enough for the family to avoid severe financial stress, support the healthy development of their children, and participate in their social, civic, and cultural communities,” the report said.The report, released Thursday, said the living wage is $7.85 to $11.59 higher than what the minimum wage will be next month.“Working people deserve to work to live, not just live to work,” the report said.

“The cost of living is making that even harder.”According to the report, the living wage is now $26.50 in the Halifax area, $25.40 for the Annapolis Valley, $25.05 for southern Nova Scotia, $24.30 for northern Nova Scotia, and $22.85 for Cape Breton.On average, those numbers are 14 per cent higher than last year’s living wage calculations.“These year-over-year increases are the most significant we have seen since we began calculating the living wage for Halifax in Nova Scotia in 2015,” said Christine Saulnier, the report’s author and director of the Nova Scotia chapter of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, in a release.“Such unprecedented increases are due to overall increases to the costs of living, for shelter and food, in particular.”The minimum wage in Nova Scotia is currently $14.50 per hour and is scheduled to rise to $15 in October.But even with the scheduled increase, workers will still be left struggling to survive, said Suzanne MacNeil, spokesperson for Justice for Workers Nova Scotia.“Workers in Nova Scotia are experiencing this crisis of affordability with no relief in sight,” she said