The chair of Common Front NL says they are unfortunately not surprised at all when it comes to a new report showing there are few places in Canada where a minimum wage worker can find an apartment.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found that workers in metro St. John’s would have to earn between $16 and $20 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment.
Alyse Stewart says many people are working full-time jobs and are still unable to live. She says increasing the minimum wage is the first step in closing this inequality and making it more affordable to live.
Stewart says lifting the minimum wage to over $15 per hour—one where people can use their wage to buy or rent houses—is achievable, and is a good first step.
Stewart says there is also a common myth that the only people working minimum wage jobs are young people, and that’s not the case.
She says you often see older people, and disproportionately women working part-time, minimum wage jobs.
Stewart says there are over 70,000 workers in the province who are making below $15 per hour. Those people are often single mothers, and those who have several minimum wage jobs to make up for the lack of affordability.