The Living Wage for Families Campaign has co-produced an updated report for ten BC communities on the need for a living wage.
The report states that on the Island, parents in a Comox Valley family need to be making $15.96 each an hour in a full-time job just to meet basic necessities.
Campaign spokesperson Deanna Ogle says those numbers would be much higher if it hadn’t been for the Federal Child Benefits. “We’ve seen a reduction in living wages across BC as a result of some public policies that have come into place.”
Ogle says the province could help by ensuring affordable rental housing is available and implementing something like the 10-dollar-a-day child-care plan.
On the Sunshine Coast, the last time the Living Wage was calculated in Powell River, each of two parents needed to be making $21.30 an hour to make ends meet.
