Editor's Note: This story was previously posted on StratfordToday.ca.
The new living wage for residents in Perth and Huron has risen 30 cents, coming in at $23.05 an hour, with the rise being attributed to an increase in food and housing costs. And the Ontario Living Wage Network (OLWN) said that while the increase is good news the number of living wage employers has been slow.
“The pace has slowed over the last year and a half, but overall we always add more certified employers every year,” said Craig Pickthorne, the OLWN’s director of communications. “The living wage in Perth-Huron went up by 1.3 per cent from last year, and rental rates account for this rise. The previous jump was, in part, due to the amalgamation of several regions into Grey-Bruce-Perth-Huron-Simcoe.”
Living wage rates across 10 sections of Ontario vary from $26/hour in the Greater Toronto Area down to $19.85 in the Southwest. Stratford’s calculation ranks as the second-highest in the province, just ahead of Ottawa ($22.80), Hamilton ($21.30) and Dufferin-Waterloo-Guelph-Wellington ($21.30). Pickthorne said that ties directly to the increase in rents, and Stratford’s rate is above others in its catchment area.
“The major factors that go into the living wage calculations are rent, food, transportation and child care,” he said. “If there isn’t extensive public transit, our theoretical families must have two cars, which drives up the rate as well.”
According to the OLWN’s Certified Living Wage Employers list, there are 21 employers currently in Stratford that offer a living wage: four manufacturing and four financial services, three retail, two community development, two health care and two non-profit, and one in training, real estate, labour and other (Avon Church). There are some companies that were previously certified that have let it lapse and are no longer on the list.
“It happens sometimes when the rates increase by a large amount, as they have over the last few years in Perth-Huron,” he said.
