A rise by a dime in Ontario made a lot of minimum wage workers dissatisfied because the change is not enough.
Lauren Murray is a minimum-wage retail worker in Barrie, Ont., who works two jobs “and even then I can’t afford my car,” she said.
“I can’t afford groceries. I only eat one full meal a day,” Murray said. “Even then I struggle to pay small bills like my phone, car and with these rising gas prices I feel doomed.”
In Ontario, the minimum wage was recently increased by 10 cents to $14.35 an hour from $14.25 — a bump that left minimum-wage workers interviewed by Et Cetera unimpressed.
Quinn Smith, a big-box store warehouse employee, said he’s having difficulty making ends meet.
“I do not think people should have to work several minimum wage jobs to afford to live in Ontario, but currently with working a minimum-wage job 40 hours a week, I can barely afford to pay rent,” he said.
Many of those who make minimum wage do not feel they are paid what their labour is worth. Many jobs require intense physical labour from their employees to get the job done.
“I’m definitely not paid what my labour is worth,” Smith said. “I work eight hours a day five days a week unloading several trucks a night, and I’m constantly sorting, stalking and binning freight.
“Our work in the warehouse is very physical and hands-on using power equipment and such, but we still only get paid minimum wage,” Smith said.
The low-income classification in Ontario is $38,500, which is about $19 an hour. A 40-hour work week on minimum wage is $14.35, starting this month, which is about $28,000 a year.
The largest increase in the minimum wage in the last decade was in 2017 when the then Liberal government headed by Kathleen Wynne increased the rate to $14 from $11.60.
After the 2018 election, the Progressive Conservative government of Premier Doug Ford froze the hourly minimum wage at $14 and scrapped legislation that would have raised it to $15 that fall.
This week, David Card, a Canadian economist, won a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on minimum wage and how a higher minimum wage affects the labour market. He concluded it did not harm the economy, an argument frequently made by employers.
Minimum-wage workers said the current rate makes them feel hopeless and limits their abilities to participate in everyday life.
“The idea of working isn’t what bothers me, I like my job,” said Logan Fargo, a Toronto-based lumberyard employee. “I’m okay being around heavy machinery and having to do some heavy lifting. It’s the fact that I put in a lot of work and I don’t feel that I’m paid fairly.
“I feel like the recent increase has done more harm than good,” Fargo said. “I honestly feel like the government has spat in my face.”