The Working Class Declaring An Increase In Minimum Wage by E. V. Hutcheon Jan 28,2014

 

em mw ACornwall Ontario – In the past, Ontario has had one of the lowest minimum wage rates across the Country. Today, the minimum wage as it stands at $10.25 since 2010 and is currently, one of the highest in the Country.  If you’re feeding a family or just trying to support yourself and you work approximately 35 hours per week earning minimum wage, then you are barely getting by. Without taxes, personal expenses or any tips you may receive while working on the job, you will make less than $20,000 a year. Full time minimum wage worker Jeffrey D’artagnan says,

 

“I think the minimum is far to low it needs to go up to at least over 15$ per hour. Right now it is too low to support ones self and is a joke. If people are in school trying to better themselves and have a part time job- that won’t make enough to go to school and support themselves.”

 

Cornwall City Councilor Elaine Macdonald also states,

 

“It used to be that if you had a job you moved out of the poverty grouping, now that’s not the case. Now you can have a full time job and still be poor. There’s something wrong with that.” 

 

According to the Provincial Advisory Panel, that number should increase annually.

People want an increase in minimum wage without an increase in their taxes, enabling them to advantageously support themselves, as well their family. Before the Canadian Liberal Party came to power in 2003, our minimum wage stood at  $6.85. As mentioned above, this is one of the lowest rates the province has ever had.  Now, people are asking for the current high rate to be raised further. So far nothing has been said to happen regarding to the higher the annual rate. Even though there was recently a campaign held by the Workers Action Centre, to increase the minimum wage up to $14.00 per hour.  Designer and artist Tina Cosic comments,

 

“I think it should be raised because there are many people who do work minimum wage and support their families.” 

 

There so far is no set in stone standard, for what the amount for minimum wage should be increased or decreased too.  There is no way to say for sure as of now when the next inflation of the minimum wage rate will be. For now it is open for discussion. Tina was asked her opinion on the matter, how much she felt minimum wage should go up? She replied,

 

“Well at least $11.25 because if they have that little bit extra, it’s possible to at least cover the rent bills every month. That’s not even a starter for other bills plus living expenses.”

 

In the past ten years, the average for people working minimum wage has doubled. If more and more people are being added to that list than in the past, isn’t it about time the Canadian government reviews the budget on minimum wage? Even more important, in the next few years if it does get reviewed, how many years will it take for the change to finally be in effect?

 

A recent study done by Statistics Canada gathered from 2003 through to 2011, gives us evidence to report that minimum wage earners are more likely to be young people in the work place. This report did not include the wages for the self employed, retired, people on welfare, the unemployed or stay at home parents.  The study did show that almost 40% of minimum wage workers are 25 years of age or older.  Councilor Elaine Macdonald says,

 

“Change the wage because obviously, its the way it’s broken down and not only has it doubled but it’s now at about half a million people and the majority of them are women and they’re not kids anymore.”

 

Elaine also went on to state,

 

 “It used to be that minimum wage jobs were held by high school kids you know, making a few dollars for their weekend entertainment or what ever, but not minimum wage jobs are primarily being held by parents, and grandparents.”

 

Currently women account for almost two thirds of all minimum wage workers. More women work for minimum wage jobs than above minimum wage jobs. This should also be taken into account when placed beside the average for men, which is only one third of the total amount of minimum wage workers.  The minimum wage currently, has been frozen for four years now. There is a possibility that when the time comes, the rate will rise, as many would agree. If it does get raised, it will decrease poverty provincially by 10%.

E.V. Hutcheon is a 2nd year St. Lawrence College Journalism Student.  She has professionally edited a Polish history book and is hoping to see her dream and passion of writing into a career. Previously living Toronto, E.V. is now a proud Cornwall citizen. On her off time you can usually find her at home writing her latest book, or walking along the St Lawrence River. 

 River Kings

 

36 Comments

  1. The working class declare that they desire to force people to pay higher prices for food, fuels and other fun stuff. Let’s force up the minimum price of milk, bread and butter. Let’s force up the minimum price of gasoline, diesel, natural gas, propane, and electricity. Let’s force up the price of going to the movies, going to music concerts and entering amusement parks.

    Are you amused by the working class desire to increase working and living cost? Many small businesses can barely afford to pay for workers. Let’s force those workers out of a job by making those jobs illegal. Any job that pays below the government stipulated price controls would be illegal therefore cancelling those jobs.

    Enterprises will seek alternatives to offering paying jobs by asking customers to “do it yourself”. Watch more jobs disappear to automation. Many services are being converted to self-serve cause customers can’t afford to pay increasing minimum prices for foods, fuels and fun stuff.

    Increasing the minimum prices by government imposed laws is not fun for the people.

  2. Who works 35 hour weeks? Some of the 88,000 on the Ontario sunshine list? Some of the 200,000 Federally?
    Cleaners, Security, non union Couriers etc. are probably closer to 44 hours.

    I am all for people earning a decent living, what other options are there than raising pay? Higher take home with less tax? Perhaps higher pay if employer payroll costs decrease?

    Do you want to pay more for products than now? The money has to come from somewhere and the vast majority of business owners have staff of 100 or less.

  3. Yes Darcy. We must keep the working poor working and poor.

  4. We already have greatly increased taxes/user fees under the McGuinty regime. We now have the highest electricity rates on the continent, we have become a ‘have not’ province for first time in history,,, and now McWynne, the unelected premier, wants to decimate small business. Why? For additional votes at election time!

    This Liberal gov’t has proven to be totally fiscally inept. Pandering to unions has helped them to stay in power regardless of their numerous screwups. Increasing minimum wage yet again is further pandering so as to maintain power. Much of Ontario’s woes can be placed firmly at the feet of government. Instead of creating a productive business climate, they stifle it. Their tax and spend mantra, and mismanagement has create so they are forced to put their hands ever deeper into our pockets. We are over taxed and overburdened. Most of us have become to live from paycheque to paycheque and have lost purchasing power! Increasing minimum wage will not fix that. It simply will create so increased business costs are passed and stifle small business and the job market further. When business is squeezed too much and profits eroded further… where is the incentive for business! To be sure one of the first places they will cut back is employees!

    How will forcing the onus mostly on small business and increasing the cost of living further, assist people when the net result shall be business closure, business moving to more profitable jurisdictions or business cutting back work hours. The net result will be fewer jobs, fewer people working, less full time and increased part time hours. Does less people working increase number of people on social assistance and thus increased taxes! Why does mismanaged and over taxed Ontario require one of the highest wages in Canada! Certainly it will provide increased revenue stream for a fiscally inept government, but with increased cost of living as increased cost of business are passed on, will we significantly benefit when all is said and done! Will there be a net gain in employment and economic growth? Of course not! Government need more fiscal accountability, stop pandering to special interest groups, reduce costs, reduce taxes and to invigorate the economy and job growth… especially in the private sector. Unfortunately this provincial government has proven incapable of such. Their foolish green policy is a classic example of fiscal ineptitude that needlessly sucks money from our pockets. Just one example of many! It is not the responsibility of the business sector to fix stupid!

  5. Darcy Neal you are right and that is what forced jobs to go overseas and they are not coming back. The more money that you want the more the prices go high and there is no win solution at all. Live below your means and you will survive. The standard of living is going to go down and this is one of the things that I do know. In order to compete with the third world well I said it we will be going down that path and it is all done by design by the global elite. Not by our stupid idiot PM no but by people who have the brains and knowledge to keep us all down as serfs. You will hear and see more as time goes on I will keep quiet for what I know. Increasing the minimum wage is not going to solve anything but instead will make matters worse.

  6. HONORING THE DEATH OF PETE SEEGER WHO ALWAYS FOUGHT FOR THE LITTLE MAN
    we support this call your MP request …maybe this doesn’t belong here but without Freedom given to us from our Veterans there would be no Cornwall Free News
    StellaTheFellaa

    PLEASE CALL OUR LOCAL MP GUY LAUZON THIS IS SHAMEFUL..NO EXCUSES!!!

    Veterans in Ottawa to fight service cuts across Canada
    Federal government closing 9 Veterans Affairs offices across the country

    Alban LeClair says he works with veterans in Prince Edward Island as a legion service volunteer.

    “I can’t help veterans without assistance of Veterans Affairs,” he said.

    “This government keeps saying it’s enhancing services for veterans.
    It says these closures will not affect services. Well, I can tell you
    now, that before they started shutting down Charlottetown district
    office, a veteran could get a home visit within a couple of days. Now it
    takes up to six weeks to contact the veteran. And six weeks is a long
    time for a 93-year-old veteran, and even young veterans suffering with
    PTSD,” he said, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder.

  7. @ garfield. Why do you guys keep trotting out the same old BS about the premiere being not elected? We elect MPs and MPPs. The parties elect their leaders. Even you should know this by now.

  8. Instead of having a minimum wage that does not work for anyone I would rather support a living wage that adjusts with the cost of living.

  9. Bottom line…. logic, fiscal prudence and common sense convey Ontario’s minimum wage should be in line with other Canadian provinces, the U.S. and other jurisdictions of relevance to the Canadian economy. McWynne’s proposal goes beyond that and unfortunately shall not enhance nor benefit Ontario’s economy.

  10. I don’t think that it is fair to see a minimum wage earner living in a large city like Ottawa or Toronto be paid the same amount for doing the same job as those living in a smaller city like Cornwall. He or she is having to be payed low and pay out two to three times the amount for living expenses then take home the same amount as those where the cost of living is lower and have to budget harder because of where they choose to live. Is this fair? A living wage would help and be more fair to them than a minimum wage.

  11. It’s interesting to note that the construction and sales of luxury homes in Canada have been breaking records every year for the last three years. Same for the sales of luxury cars and trucks. At the same time, those in the bottom third of the economic scale (the working poor) are losing their homes and depending on food-banks in record numbers. Our trickle-up economy is working exactly as it was designed to do.

  12. People cannot live on minimum wage here in Ottawa, Toronto and other large cities since the cost of living is astronomical. Cornwall is not that cheap so don’t think it is easy to live in Cornwall either. The government doesn’t care at all about the people and only cares about stealing our money and giving it to their friends which are the banksters as in gangsters which they are including the big corporations, the thieving senators and I can go on and on. In order for a family to live ok or kind of ok in Ottawa you need to make $100K a year and more. We live in a poor way so as to go ahead and very few people can live this way. We do have an excellent landlord and that is everything to us. My daughter is getting a lot of experience on the job where she is and it is in a supermarket and it is a big corporation and not some flimsy little store. They have no benefits of any sort nor a discount on food. One thing is that she is working and not drawing welfare and it is healthy to work. Later on when the economy improves which won’t be for quite some time then she can apply elsewhere. I thank the Good Lord for good health and without ones health then you have nothing even if you had all the money in the entire world.

  13. Yes Furtz the economy was designed to keep people very poor and soon there will be no more middle class at all. Those homes will be left empty and the same thing with the cars because people who are earning small wages will not be able to buy anything at all. It is designed by the global elite and like I say banksters as in gangsters and the corporations it is all very true indeed and even more than that and if I could speak freely I would tell you even more but you have to research. I have researched for many years and I came up with the truth. All what you see in real estate is all fraud every bit of it and I don’t steer you wrong. The market fell lately and it is going to fall way down. Nobody has seen anything yet. My husband came out with something this morning that I already knew and that is about the 401K and other investments where they are being ripped away from the people. If you have money in the bank the banksters will take it away from you and if you need that money you have to prove what you need it for even if it is yours. When you do not have the money in your hand then it is considered not yours. I can tell you all so much and you all think that I have flipped but I haven’t. If I had the reins to tell you things I sure would do that. I gave you some info already and you should be prepared for what is coming.

  14. The writer of this column is improving. Congrats E.V.!

    Darwinism works in Canada. The rich and strong work harder and are generally smarter than the rest of the populace. They also vote. If one is earning minimum wage it reflects their skill set. Improving one’s skill set allows one to excel. Life has always been hard, but has never been easier for the average contributor to the economy. Get educated. Take a chance. Stop the whining or go on welfare and move to French Harlem.
    .
    God bless Stephen Harper.

  15. 420 do you know how many well educated young people coming out of university with no work and all they have to show for that degree are debts. Education isn’t everything. The lady that helped my daughter land that job’s daughter has a degree and is working in the office at that supermarket on little pay and no benefits and is married and has a child. My daughter is doing a lot of replacing and no benefits and she gets the evening shift and is there now. She is only working 4 hours and sometimes an extra half hour and they don’t even get a discount on food either – it is serfdom for sure. Many who come out of university are working at MacDonald’s and such places. Last week the man on the Jewel radio here in Ottawa said that those applying at MacDonald’s to cook hambergers have to go there with a suit so as to look presentable to compete with others for those jobs and that is how bad things are here in Ottawa. Engineers have to register with employment agencies and no job my friend – none at all. The government is cutting the work force and I knew this since many months and during the summer a lady whose husband is an economist with the government was telling me all about this and much more to come yet. Like I said previously we haven’t seen anything yet. I have been studying this for many years now and the prognosis is not good at all. Hang on to your money because things are going to get mighty ugly in due course. It will be worse than the economic depression of 1929 and I don’t say that lightly.

  16. Jules, Jules, Jules!
    .
    I have a feeling that the closest you have been to an economist is Jim Kramer on the tube.
    .
    The kids that have debt should perhaps have taken a trade. Darwin suggests that it is not chance, but persistence that allows one to evolve. Persistence includes choosing an education with an outcome that doesn’t lead to McDonald’s. Anyone in debt and working at McDonald’s shot too high for themselves and they are paying for it. We can’t have a society of all teachers, engineers, doctors, and civil servants. Far too many are allowed into post-secondary education. The world needs ditch diggers is an overused but accurate statement about those who can’t find jobs. The smart kids have jobs when they finish. The rest should have worked to pay their way through school, studied harder, or accepted their role in society.
    .
    The government cutting jobs is music to my ears. Every time a public servant loses a job, an angel gets it’s wings.
    .
    God bless Stephen Harper.

  17. 420 here is another one. You said that people are not all cut out for university and that part we agree but there are people who are mighty intelligent and come from families who have no money to send their kids through school. These students have to borrow and come out owing like as if they have a mortgage on their heads for the rest of their lives and can’t get out of it. I used to write to an American lady in her early fifties at the time who took a law degree that she didn’t want but to please her grandparents and all she wanted was to be a chef which she liked. She was paying close to $100K when she got out and had no parents (she was given to her grandparents along with other siblings to raise). Not everyone comes from a good and well established household.

    Yes we do have too many teachers and most cannot even teach. Not only that but the Board of Education decides what students are going to learn and our system of education here in N. America is way behind Europe, way behind Australia, etc. Yes there are way too many engineers and that I do agree and I said a few times here and I don’t know if Jamie put it through but I said that you have to be the one who can invent something to be able to get ahead otherwise you are like everyone else. Doctors of medicine is what we need but the government holds them back because of our socialized medicine as well as having only so many because they pay their salaries. Doctors no longer work for themselves but for the government.

    Would you 420 go out and dig ditches if you could not find a job in your area of study? I want an honest answer but I already have it and no you sure would not stoop down and dig ditches. You would be surprised to see how many young people today who have no job and are competing for MacDonald’s jobs and it sounds very funny but very true. The daughter of the woman who helped my daughter get that job has a degree in business so think about that and what she is doing now is way beneath what she went in for and mighty discouraging. You have to see what is going on and not seeing what is going on in tiny Cornwall. You have to get out of Cornwall to see the real life and the real hardships. Cornwall has its own little world and I know that because I lived there and born and raised and I had to leave there to know what life is about.

  18. The only thing the last minimum wage increase did was increase the cost of living for people who worked to get above minimum wage and send our call center jobs overseas.

    The prices across the border are lower for the same products we have here because they earn less per hour and they are taxed less. Keep in mind with lower taxes you have less social benefits like health care. Yes, you wait five hours, but at the end of that 5 hours you don’t get handed a bill.

    Simple fact is we are in a global economy and we are not keeping up with the tech of it all. Productions jobs where lost to China because they kept up with the tech and they have lower wages…not because they have higher minimum wage. Call center jobs where sent to India, Caribbean and Moroco because they bothered to learn the language needed to take the job, and don’t ask for $15 an hour.

    We don’t put that kind of effort in here. We bitch to our union worker when our supervisor asks us to pick up a broom because it’s not “in our job description”. Some people lose jobs because union workers making $22 an hour want $22.50 an hour because there union says they deserve it. Union makes more dues but someone loses there job to make up for the pay hike.

    We got greedy and caused it. Suck it up. Work to get above minimum wage. Prove to big companies that you can do the job better and more efficiently (without bitching) and that you are worth more than your counterpart in another country and get the jobs back.

    We need more jobs with more choices. When the number of jobs surpasses the number of employees you will be able to ask for a rate based on performance and get it. Until we get jobs back we will keep seeing the same problem. Do you think increasing minimum wage will get your jobs back? Or make use lose more?

    Look up Law of supply and demand and how it affect the labour market.

  19. Jules

    Those same people made a choice. I worked and went to school at the same time. I had no choice. I dug dirt and did whatever I had to do at the time. I was away for many years.

  20. Like water, minimum wage must seek its own level within a economic structure. When government tampers with wages it disturbs the structure and in the final analysis is the only body to benefit by immediately increasing tax revenues. The problem is not how much we make but rather how much is left over after taxation. After accounting for federal, provincial and municipal taxes and factoring in HST and seemingly endless fees (taxes) personally I end up hanging onto only 30 cents out of each dollar. Our purchasing power has eroded slowly and steadily since the mid seventies and long story short I would obviously be happier and better off if I held onto to closer to 50 percent.

    We have more people attempting to live off of a minimum wage income because of a shift from a manufacturing base to a service industry environment. We have been struggling through a role change and not to be all doom and gloom but it likely will get far worse, quicker if a bloated, disconnected provincial government starts its economic tampering. The upside is that the tampering will not chase off industry for it has already left or is finalizing plans to depart this have not province.

    Bottom line we need more individuals with diplomas rather than degrees because the winds have shifted and we desperately need to live within our means and elect people who understand that when taxes hit 100 percent we have left democracy behind in exchange for communism. Think about it.

  21. Jules we all work for the government ! Taxation takes the lions share. Why ? We demand too much from our system and support far too many non contributors not to mention billions of dollars that we do not have being given away to assist the struggling poor of the world. Perhaps we should help ourselves first ? Just a thought .

  22. @Garfield …nice to read commonsense comments based on reality rather than sarcasm or sense of entitlement !

  23. Yes David. As long as all the money continues to trickle up to wealthiest 20%, all is good. It costs more and more to be filthy-rich these days. Luxury cars and yachts and houses aren’t getting any cheaper.

  24. Several years ago I was told by a friend that he earned $25.00 an hour sweeping floors at Domtar. I would assume that that was THEIR minimum wage at the time. Was that true? I don’t know. He also said he was not ALLOWED to do anything else when not busy, by the union? At the height of the automotive industry crisis, one news report stated that labourers at one of the car factories earned as high as $75.00 an hour. I found that hard to believe. One of my cousins, a high school drop out, earns $45.00 an hour on an assembly line. He would be on their sunshine list if they had one. He claims there are many university graduates working there because they can earn more as labourers than they can in their chosen professions. You also hear the occasional story of workers sleeping on the job in a back room. How long before these car factories move to China?
    Most of our manufacturing jobs are gone, and they’re never coming back. Where are the new jobs going to come from? How long before economies based on “growth” run out of space, and maybe even resources, to “grow”? The world is changing to a point where full employment will never be possible. What kind of financial system will the world have in the future? Just a few odd things to think about.

  25. Furtz, someone has to make those luxury items, that translates into jobs. Someone has to monitor and reinvest some of that top 20%, which translates into jobs. Someone has to provide maintenance on those items, which translates into jobs. Gas, food, insurance, amny industries.
    If some one was able to stay in school, work 2 jobs, save and invest, why should they give it away to the people who don’t work?

    Just like all this language crap ( which did not start in 1759, 1841, 1867 or the Trudeau years) we will continue to have lower paid earners and higher. The middle is moving into one or the other because of taxation etc.

  26. @ Eric. I’m talking about the WORKING poor right now. The people who get up every morning and go to work every day, and don’t make enough to live on. The number of people building Lamborghinies and Rolex watches is pretty limited.

  27. Jules and 420,
    You need to remember in North America education is nothing more than a business. There is no form of education that actually provides for what we need tomorrow, hell how can they predict what is needed for education when they have no idea how the market will end today. Education in Canada keeps kids simple minded and broke so they can begin life in debt.
    How can we make things better, first of all we have to take things into our own hands “ vive la revolution” ,
    Why do we pay taxes to the environmental portion of the government out of our general tax base, and then pay an additional tax for garbage pickup municipally,
    Why is gas at 1.21 for gas and 1.42 for diesel? Nothing has changed and government will NOT challenge the rising costs of fuel or anything else for that matter because it is a huge tax revenue or cash cow.
    Politicians can’t and won’t do it and considering there is no accountability by their employer, we the people, they continue to tax us and misuse the funds.
    So how do we make it better again “vive la revolution”

  28. Mr. Oldham you too hit the nail on the head. We have to support our own people. I for one do not believe in welfare unless someone is ill mentally or physically or both. I believe in work. My daughter only gets 4 1/2 hours here and there and sometimes 5 and has only done an 8 hour shift once since she was there and at minimum wage but still better than a hand out and she sure does pay taxes. Yes you sure are right when you said that we all work for the government in one way or another because of the taxes that we all pay.

  29. 420 there are people who can go to school and work at the same time and one is our friend Robert’s daughters but not everyone can do that especially if they are into medicine and such things. My daughter was thinking about going back to college and when she saw all the people that she worked with with high degrees and no job in their line of study she declined. My husband just came in a while ago telling me more news about Sears and the situation is very grim. Honestly I never tell any of you lies – I am straight forward and you can throw all the dirt that you want at me including some doo doo – LOL LOL but I am telling you all the truth.

  30. Dominic you too are absolutely right and yes greed has caused this indeed. My son has a friend who works for Bell Canada in the call centre and he is a supervisor and is sent all over the world. He just came back from Peru lately. He makes at least $25. or more per hour. Call Centres are all going overseas. My daughter was offered to go into the call centre where she used to work for either $12./ hour or $13 I can’t remember which salary but it was where Kanata is and that would take 2 buses and 3 hours again on the buses and shift work. She could not meet the buses at night and very dangerous and the whole crew of her co-workers opted out of it as well. Her supervisor stayed and went on training for that job in Halifax and came back and told my daughter then that there were no jobs and that she had two children in university to pay their tuitions, etc. She could not opt out and had a house to pay for as well along with her husband. Many people here even the most educated are taking very low paying jobs and you would be very surprised to see them.

  31. Hayley you said it well – education is a business here in N. America and it is to keep the teachers employed. Without young people going to universities and colleges and getting into massive debts then teachers would be unemployed. Education today sucks where the young people (a large majority) cannot read nor write and it is all done by design. There is nothing to turn to and even my daughter asks how is she going to be able to live if it were not for us being alive and helping her out. Things are not good at all and the future is very bleak. Our deceased friend Robert’s daughter was taking psychology which was a waste and I think that she was switching courses because that led to nowhere.

  32. In the last ten years or so the minimum wage has increased $3.40 to its current $10.25. Now, at the stroke of a pen, some are suggesting the need to increase the minimum wage to $14.00. Right. So we are expecting to essentially repeat history, only in record breaking time. So my question is, do we expect the same or a different outcome ?

  33. Furtz, this article from 2007 showed “some” improvement for the working poor. A major stumbling block then as now, high tax. Not to sound like a conservative radio show, but there is a poverty industry out there that does not want change, only talk about it for more funding. We have issues with immigrants having above average unemployment rates as well. Perhaps government could hire another level of government to work on fixing immigrants working sooner and tax issues as a start. I also think we are seeing some of the drain from the family unification program of a few years back.

    To be sure, pockets of dire poverty persist. According to John Richards of Simon Fraser University, who recently analyzed the issue in a study for the C.D. Howe Institute, aboriginals, the undereducated, the mentally ill, the physically handicapped and immigrants trapped in ethnic ghettos remain poor at unacceptably high levels. He also found that high effective tax rates on the “near poor” discourage some from moving from social assistance to work. http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/columnists/story.html?id=e84d2226-89b9-412e-a5a2-fce61c371d37

  34. Someone will have to confirm my math

    The wage increase in 2010 was about 17% ($8.75 to $10.25) the cost of buying goods according to stats Canada has only risen by 8.1 % between 2009 and 2013. Probably due the cost of doing business combined with wages increasing.

    It appears that we now have $11.00 as the minimum wage according to other news sites. This means wages have increased 25.17% since 2009, while the cost index has only risen 1% ($0.01) in 2013.

    Am I missing something or are they really playing the people of Ontario as complete fools

  35. Hayley just mentioned what I was going to say that Winnie in TO raised the minimum wage to $11./per but that won’t change anything except that the living will go higher like your food, utilities and things of that nature. Housing will go to a certain point since we are in a bubble until it bursts like what happened in the US. Australia is in the same predicament. If you look at Vancouver B.C. a simple bungalow even in the drug infested areas is well over a million dollars and their minimum wage is only a little over $8./hour. Only the very rich can live there and nobody else unless you are a top drug dealer or some wealthy celebrity or something of that nature. This won’t make matters any better at all. When incomes go up so does the cost of buying things. When you go to buy your food, clothing, your utilities, taxes, etc. your eyes will open so wide that you would think that you fell from another planet. It isn’t going to get better at all – not for a very long time to come. Like I said previously hold on to your shorts since you have no idea what is coming.

  36. Don’t worry about the math Hailey. Rest assured that workers making $11/hr will still be living in poverty.
    All is good,

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