By Moyo Lawuyi

A new report released on Nov. 10 by the Ontario Living Wage Network (OLWN) revealed the living wage required to make ends meet in the GTA is $27.20 per hour, raising concerns amongst many student workers at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).

According to the report, this was a 4.6 per cent increase from last year’s livable wage of $26 with the GTA having the highest living wage rate in the province to date.

A living wage is not the same as the minimum wage, which is set by the provincial government. “The living wage reflects what people need to earn to cover the actual costs of living in their community,” reads the OLWN’s website.

“Despite the annual October 1st increase to the provincial minimum wage to $17.60, there is still no place in Ontario where you could work full-time and cover all your expenses,” the report said.

Zachat Ochalefu, a fourth-year fashion student, works part-time as a stylist at a clothing store. She says that while she works between 15 to 20 hours per week, and earns $17.50 per hour, this is not enough to cover her expenses in Toronto.
She says that if she earned Ontario’s livable wage, she would worry less about getting hours at work, spending money on groceries and paying rent.

“I think [working part-time] has made me more tired,” she said. “Because of the wage that I’m earning, I have to work more hours if I want to have rent but then I don’t have those hours because I have to be at school,” said Ochalefu.

“There is still no place in Ontario where you could work full-time and cover all your expenses”

According to Hub Insights, a publication of the Business Career Hub at TMU, as of Fall 2024, 925 TMU students were employed in Career Boost positions. Career Boost is TMU’s employment program for full-time domestic undergraduate students.

In the program, students can only hold one position at a time, work only under a certain number of hours and most positions earn under $20 per hour, which is low compared to Ontario’s livable wage of $27.20 per hour.

TMU does not publish data on the number of students working off campus while studying; however, Statistics Canada data show that in the 2023-24 year, 35 per cent of university students aged 18 and 52 per cent of university students aged 22 were working.

Sara Chapman, a fourth-year real estate management student, is working as a host at a restaurant downtown. Apart from tips, she earns $17.60 per hour. She says that with this pay, it can sometimes be challenging to make enough in Toronto.

“I think going up to $27 [per hour] would be amazing,” said Chapman. “It would probably help a lot with bills and everything, and if you aren’t working as much hours, you’ll still get a decent amount of money.”

“I have to work more hours if I want to have rent, but then I don’t have those hours because I have to be at school”

Chapman says her work hours at the restaurant are inconsistent. Because of this, she sometimes feels pressured to take on extra hours during busy periods to get more money, despite the potential impact on her academic life.

“If there’s an assignment due one night, I can’t work on it because I’m working, so I’ll have to stay up later to do that,” she said.

Chapman hopes the university can help students struggling financially in the city. She suggested TMU can provide more student discounts and the government can also offer more student grants instead of loans.

“[Students] still have to build up enough money to start paying the student loans back, even a couple months after graduating,” she said.

While the OLWN does not include student-specific expenses, such as tuition, in its calculations for the living wage rates across the province, the calculations consider rental costs in the province.

Craig Pickthorne is the communications coordinator at the OLWN. He says shelter costs like rent, renters’ insurance and utilities account for 40 per cent of the new $27.20 livable wage rate.

In 2025, the City of Toronto’s ‘Average Market Rent’ for a one-bedroom apartment in the city was $1,715. Pickthorne says rent is one sector that the provincial government can focus on to ensure people’s wages align with the $27.20 rate.

“The government can make people’s paychecks go further by bringing in some kind of strengthened rent control,” he said. “That’s an opportunity to help make sure that the living wage rates don’t fly out of control every year.”