A Living Wage for St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador /

Following the Canadian Living Wage Framework, the living wage is calculated as the hourly rate at which a household can meet its basic needs, once government transfers have been added to the family’s income and deductions have been subtracted (such as income taxes and Employment Insurance premium).1 The Living Wage is not a legally determined and sanctioned wage like the minimum wage, but is rathe [...] Women make up 69% of part-time workers and 66% of all minimum wage workers in the province.7 People are struggling to pay for their daily needs: Newfoundland and Labrador has the most expensive food in the country for any province.8 13.4% of households in the province experience food insecurity.9 2.1 In their own voice: why workers need a living wage It is important to listen to the experiences of [...] The wage was calculated based on the Canadian Living Wage framework and building on the lessons learned via the three other calculations completed in Atlantic Canada (Halifax and Antigonish in NS, and Saint John in NB).10 The calculation of the living wage provides communities with informa- tion about: • Real life/real time costs of living and raising a family in a given com- munity: What are the [...] Our living wage budget includes the cost of full-time regulated child care for the two-year-old for the full year ($726/month).20 It also includes care for the 7-year-old’s before and after-school care for 10 months ($17/day).21 Additionally, in the summer, the 7-year-old will be in summer day camp for 6 weeks ($156.67 average per week).22 Very few of the parents who participated in our focus grou [...] Parent Education: The living wage budget includes the cost for one parent to enroll in two courses per year and pay for the student fees at the College of the North Atlantic (annual cost of $794.00).25 Parent education is included because we recognize that even the living wage rate is on the low end of wages, and thus it would help to get a higher paying job, which may require more education and n