By Anthony Lippa-Hardy
Effective Oct. 1, the Ontario government raised the minimum wage by $0.65 to $17.20.
However, some students at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) find the increase isn’t enough to combat the high cost of living.
The increase is based on the fluctuation of current consumer price index (CPI), raising Ontario’s minimum wage to the second highest in Canada, behind British Columbia.
According to David Piccini, Ontario’s Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, the wage increase was implemented to help people offset the large increase in cost of living.
“Our government is helping nearly one million workers earn more money for themselves and their families,” said Piccini in a March press release.
The press releases also said those earning general minimum wage and working 40 hours per week “will see an annual pay increase of up to $1,355.”
However, the increase isn’t enough for some students. Niyati Jain, a second-year business management student at TMU said she doesn’t see any benefit to the increase because being a commuter student “is really expensive.”
“I went to the nearby Metro to buy one packet of chips and a bottle of Sprite, and I ended up paying almost $10 even after the student discount,” she said.
“I still don’t think that it’s a living wage with this increase”
According to the latest Statistics Canada data, students paid 2.4 per cent more for food purchases from stores in August.
Jain said she doesn’t think the increase makes being a student more affordable. She wants to work more but said hours are sparse at her workplace, making the 3.9 per cent increase barely noticeable on a part-time minimum wage. Riga, a fourth-year graphic communications management student at TMU, said the increase does not meet a living wage.
“I still don’t think that it’s a living wage with this increase. But you know, any more money is good money,” she said.
According to Ontario Living Wage Network, in the Greater Toronto Area, an adequate living wage is $25.05 per hour. Nearly eight dollars more than the provincial minimum wage.
Although she appreciated the slight raise, she said that even working full-time, as she did in the summer, wouldn’t be enough to cover her expenses without financial support from her family.
Both Jain and Riga said additional financial support from their families helps to compensate for their low income.
The need for additional financial support is not uncommon with minimum wage workers. According to Anil Verma, a professor emeritus at The Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, minimum wage is meant to help people break into the labour market as it alone is not enough to live on.
“Asking someone to work on minimum wage for the rest of their lives is a very cruel thing, and it’s a poverty trap out of which people can’t get out,” he said.
“It is not enough to live a middle-class Canadian life on minimum wage”
Minimum wage should be used as a stepping stone to get into higher paying positions, whether that means going back to school, doing an apprenticeship, learning new skills, or getting adequate training, said Verma.
“As things stand, it is not enough to live a middle class Canadian life on minimum wage,” he said.
In order to live and attend university in Toronto, students like Riga find themselves working with a strict budget, splitting their income up to meet their personal expenses.
Riga said saving the majority of her paycheques has helped her get by with her low income pay.
“What I do every time I get paid is keep [spending money] in my chequing [account], and then everything else goes into savings,” she said.
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