Minimum wage hike won’t allow workers to live with dignity

Reprinted

May 30, 2025 by BC Society for Policy Solutions in Research

By Anastasia French and Iglika Ivanova

Anastasia French is managing director, Living Wage BC.

Iglika Ivanova is a senior economist, BC Society for Policy Solutions.

Imagine working full-time, juggling multiple jobs and struggling to afford rent, groceries or child care. This is an everyday reality for hundreds of thousands of British Columbians.

On June 1, BC’s minimum wage increases to $17.85 an hour from $17.40: a welcome raise for low-wage workers, but far short of a living wage.

A living wage is the hourly rate a worker needs to afford essentials like rent, food, transportation and child care, and for a decent quality of life based on the cost of living in their community. It’s not about luxuries or savings, but basic dignity.

“A living wage is the hourly rate a worker needs for a decent quality of life.”

The minimum wage is set by government policy and not benchmarked against actual costs. As a result, it often lags behind real costs, which can vary significantly between BC communities. That’s why even a full-time job at minimum wage can leave workers struggling to make ends meet.

In Metro Vancouver, the current living wage is $27.05 an hour, a staggering $9.20/hour higher than the new minimum wage. A minimum wage worker would need to work 53 hours every week of the year to live with dignity.

Indexing the minimum wage to inflation—as BC has done—is positive but not enough when key costs, especially rent and groceries, are rising even faster.

Our research reveals that over 740,000 BC workers earn less than the living wage. These aren’t teenagers earning extra pocket money. Statistics Canada data show more than half of BC workers earning less than $20 an hour are over 25, many supporting families.

In Metro Vancouver, 37% of employees—nearly half a million workers—earn less than the living wage. Of these, 57% are women and two-thirds are racialized. And half of all racialized women working in Metro Vancouver do not earn the living wage.

“More than half of BC workers earning less than $20 an hour are over 25, many supporting families.”

Those doing some of the hardest, most essential jobs—cleaners, cashiers, care aides— are often paid the least. In the pandemic, these workers kept the economy functioning. Now, facing deep economic uncertainty and a worsening affordability crisis, they need far more than a 45-cent-an-hour increase. They need affordable housing, lower food costs and better transit.

When wages don’t cover basic costs, workers face impossible choices. They cut back on food, skip medications or fall behind on bills. They stay in unsafe jobs or unsafe housing. Financial stress worsens health, increasing pressure on the health care system. Children living in poverty face barriers at school. Emergency services, food banks and shelters become overwhelmed. Poverty strains everyone and everything.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

BC can close the gap between the minimum wage and living wage through coordinated action on wages and costs.

Raising the minimum wage is an important step, but the BC government must lead by example. If the Province committed to becoming a living wage employer, thousands of workers—direct employees, contracted staff and those working in crown corporations, school boards and health authorities—could earn enough to meet their basic needs.

“When wages don’t cover basic costs, workers face impossible choices: cut back on food, skip medications, fall behind on bills.”

At the same time, the BC government must make life more affordable.

This means building significantly more affordable housing so workers don’t spend half their income on rent. It means expanding $10-a-day child care across the province so parents can afford to work. It means investing in public transit that works for rural and suburban communities so that people don’t need to own a car just to hold a job. And it means supporting a more resilient local food system to keep prices stable while strengthening BC farms and businesses.

These aren’t distant policy goals, but immediate necessities. Every month of delay means more British Columbians must choose between rent and groceries, more workers burn out, more children go to school hungry.

We can eliminate working poverty in BC. We need political courage to do so.

This minimum wage increase is a start, but true progress requires closing the gap between what workers earn and what they need to live with dignity.