As the cost of living continues to skyrocket in Oakville, the Ontario Living Wage network (OLWN) has released their annual report calculating what it costs to live in various municipalities and regions across Ontario. And the local results are staggering.
The new living wage for workers in all of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), including Oakville, was calculated this year at a new rate of a minimum $25.05 per hour.
Craig Pickthorne, a writer for the OLWN, noted that, "this year saw increases in all ten regions of Ontario" where the organization calculates living wages, "with the GTA as the highest at $25.05."
This new hourly living wage was first reported by OLWN last week, and is reported annual during Ontario's annual living wage week. Reports are issued each year in November.
Ontario's minimum wage was increased back on Oct. 1, 2023, and newly raised by $1 to a minimum of $16.55 per hour.
How bad does that make the pay disparity? It means anyone working a minimum wage position in Halton region is making $8.50 less per hour (or about 35% less) than needed in order to pay the median bills based on local cost of living.
It also means the living wage in Oakville is now more than 50% higher than Ontario's minimum wage - a significant difference.
Worst of all, these new figures means the gap between minimum and living wages is growing: in 2021, the difference was $5.75. Now the separation between the two is another $2.75, even with the newly raised minimum wages.
Breaking down the numbers
These calculations, however, come with a few stipulations and assumptions, making Oakville's true cost of living and living wage requirements even higher than that.
First, Oakville has been calculated in other reports to be the second most expensive municipality to live in Ontario, and the fourth highest in all of Canada. For example, as Oakville News reported this week, local rent prices have increased nearly 18% just this year.
That means the $25.05/hour average in the GTA is being brought down by less costly towns and cities than Oakville, including Milton, Mississauga and Oshawa.
But there are some other conditions to the rate:
- The rate of $25.05 assumes that a person is working a full-time job at 40 (or more) hours per week.
- The minimum rate assumes a minimum double income household, both earning the living wage rate of $25.05 per hour or more.
- These rates must also be paired with at least some additional benefits, including medical coverage and vacation pay.
- The rate factors in $25.05 is the gross pay or pre-tax pay.
- For families with children or dependants, this amount also factors in a median amount for eligible government benefits.
What does of all of the above mean? At these newly published rates, these are the minimum pre-tax incomes needed in order for workers in Oakville to meet the cost of living:
- A single person needs to be making at least $78,100 per year
- A two person household (either two adults or a single parent and child) needs a combined income of at least $119,800 per year
- A family of four (assuming two adults and two children) needs a household income of at least $155,800 per year
The impact of living wages in Oakville
Oakville News first began reporting on living wages two years ago, coinciding with Living Wage Week 2021.
In that investigation, Oakville News conducted several interviews with local experts on what the impacts of living wages in town could tangibly be: both the positives of having a living wage and the negatives of not.
"A living wage is really about allowing people to thrive and participate in their community," says Ted Hildebrandt, director of social planning at Community Development Halton.
Vivien Underdown, senior manager with the United Way of Halton and Hamilton, also gave an interview with Oakville News in fall 2021 when Oakville News first looked at the struggles of local living wages.
Underdown says that when people earn less than a living wage, they may struggle to afford transportation, internet services and childcare. That increases social isolation, damages their physical and mental health and makes it harder to find work and stay engaged in their communities.
"Starting with that living wage is an absolute must," she said. "But we also need to collectively work together to ensure the network of supports support everyone who is living in poverty in order to collectively bring the community up."
According to the OWLN, as of Nov. 6, 2023 there are 868 certified living wage workplaces across 635 employers in the province. Of those, only three of them are located in Oakville.
You can read more information about living wages both locally and across the province on the Ontario Living Wage Network website here.
Files from Oakville News reporter Kim Arnott contributed additional material to this story.