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Nov 20, 2024
The 2024 living wage for Metro Vancouver has risen to $27.05 per hour, a 5.3% increase from last year. This significant increase highlights the region’s deepening affordability crisis fuelled by sky-high housing costs.
Living wages are also going up across the province as our new report shows.
While inflation has eased from record highs, essential costs like rent and food continue to rise faster than general inflation.
Government initiatives such as increases to key income-tested government benefits, ongoing child care affordability improvements and the roll-out of the Canadian Dental Care Plan have provided some relief. The savings, however, have been entirely consumed by soaring prices—especially for housing and food—leaving many households struggling to make ends meet.
What is a living wage?
The living wage is the hourly rate that each of two parents working full-time must earn to support a family of four in Metro Vancouver. It ensures a family can afford necessities, support the healthy development of their children, escape severe financial stress and participate in the social, civic and cultural lives of their communities.
People who work for low wages face impossible choices—buy groceries or heat the house, keep up with bills or pay the rent on time. The result can be spiraling debt, constant anxiety and long-term health problems. In many cases it means working long hours, often at multiple jobs, just to pay for basic necessities. Parents end up having little time to spend with their family, much less to help their children with school work or participate in community activities and we are all poorer for it.
The living wage is a powerful tool to ensure paid work results in a decent standard of living and enables a life that is about more than a constant struggle to get by. For low-wage workers, earning a living wage is a game changer. It means freedom from constant financial stress and an opportunity to plan for the future.
Gap between living wage and minimum wage widens
A strikingly large gap exists between the 2024 Metro Vancouver living wage and BC’s current minimum wage of $17.40 per hour.
The Metro Vancouver living wage has always been higher than BC’s minimum wage, but the gap narrowed considerably between 2018 and 2021 thanks to policy changes such as substantial minimum wage increases, the elimination of Medical Services Plan (MSP) premiums, introduction of the BC Family Benefit and significant new federal and provincial child care investments.
However, since 2021, soaring costs of living—especially for housing—have outpaced these affordability improvements. The gap has widened again, leaving many families earning less than it takes to get by.
Recent increases to the minimum wage have been welcome, but clearly far from sufficient and more must be done urgently to better support the nearly half a million workers in Metro Vancouver who earn less than the living wage (37% of all paid employees in the region).
What about other family types?
While the Metro Vancouver living wage calculation is based on the needs of two-parent families with young children, it is also meant to support all workers so that young adults are not discouraged from having children because of low wages and older workers have extra income as they age. This was the case when the BC living wage methodology was originally developed in 2008.
However, as governments have taken important steps to better support families with children in the last eight years, questions have arisen about whether this wage is sufficient for other groups.
This year, we produced preliminary estimates of living wages for two additional family types: a single working-aged adult and a single parent with a young child. These preliminary estimates suggest that the living wage for Metro Vancouver may not be sufficient to support a single person (who would need a wage of $27.36) or a single parent ($30.63).
However, in other communities with a lower cost of living, the living wage may be sufficient for other family types. Over the next year, we will refine these calculations in consultation with community partners, academic and policy experts, low-wage workers, unions and living wage employers to ensure a more inclusive methodology.
Getting to a living wage for all BC workers
The living wage movement calls on employers to pay wages sufficient to support families. And a growing number of BC employers are stepping up. Over 450 employers, including many small businesses, 10 municipalities, three First Nation Councils and three school boards have committed to pay their employees and contractors a living wage. In 2022, YVR became Canada’s first living wage airport.
However, voluntary action alone cannot solve BC’s serious affordability crisis. Coordinated government efforts at all levels are needed to both lift wages and lower the cost pressures people face so that all workers can thrive.
As a start, the BC government should raise the minimum wage to $20 per hour to narrow the gap between the minimum wage and the living wage. This would benefit over 400,000 people of all ages, working in every region of the province.
In addition to higher minimum wages, BC workers need pay equity legislation, stronger protections from wage theft and other workplace rights violations and meaningful access to collective bargaining so they can exercise the right to come together to negotiate better wages and benefits if they so choose.
The provincial government should also establish a living wage policy for both its direct employees and contractors and encourage all public bodies to follow suit (e.g., universities, hospitals, school boards).
Affordability depends not only on our earnings, but also on the benefits and government income supports we receive and the public services we can access.
More-generous government transfers can put money directly into the pockets of low- and middle-income households, as provincial and federal child benefits do for families with children.
Government benefits could do more to moderate the increase in the living wage amid a sharply rising cost of living. Many benefits, however, are clawed back steeply or eliminated at family income levels close to the Metro Vancouver living wage ($85,000 to $100,000 per year), which is considered too high for government support, yet in reality can barely provide a decent standard of living in BC’s largest urban centre.
Provincial and the federal governments must review all low-income transfers and credits regularly to ensure they are not clawed back at income levels that leave many families struggling.
In addition to direct government transfers, accessible public services and infrastructure can reduce out-of-pocket costs for families and thus lower the wage needed to afford a decent standard of living. These include affordable housing, universal access to low-cost child care, free transit for youth 18 and under and an expansion of publicly funded pharmacare and mental health services.
Without urgent government action to address the affordability crisis, the living wage will continue to climb. This means many BC employers will be unable to pay their workers a living wage, leading to thousands trapped with low wages and earning less than it actually costs to live in our province.
A coordinated effort to raise wages, expand public services and adjust government supports is essential to ensuring all BC workers can thrive, not just survive.
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Topics: Economy, Employment & labour
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Soaring cost of living—especially for housing—causes living wages to increase across BC

May 30, 2024
On June 1, BC’s minimum wage is going up to $17.40 per hour. Despite this welcome pay raise for the 240,000 lowest-paid workers in the province, the minimum wage remains over $3 per hour lower than the lowest living wage in BC ($20.64 in Dawson Creek). In BC’s largest cities, Metro Vancouver and Greater Victoria, the gap between the minimum wage and the living wage is $8 per hour.
New data obtained by CCPA-BC from Statistics Canada reveals that one third of BC’s paid employees earn less than the living wage in their community—more than 740,000 people.
Over 400,000 people earn less than $20 per hour, a wage lower than the lowest living wage calculated in the province. Even with the minimum wage increase, far too many workers will remain trapped in the low wage gap, earning less than it costs to live in our province. These workers face impossible choices—buy groceries or heat the house, keep up with bills or pay the rent on time. The result can be spiraling debt, constant anxiety and long-term health problems. It often means working long hours, sometimes at multiple jobs, just to pay for necessities.
BC is in a serious affordability crisis. Renters continue to face rapidly increasing rents, especially when they have to move. The combination of sky-high rents, elevated food prices and low incomes explains the surge in demand for charitable services, with increasing numbers of workers forced to turn to food and rent banks.
The living wage is the hourly rate that full-time workers need to earn to support a family. It covers the necessities, offers an escape from severe financial stress and allows participation in the social, civic and cultural lives of their communities. It is based on the actual costs of living in a particular community and affords a decent, if still very modest, standard of living without the extras many of us take for granted. The living wage does not cover credit card, loan or other debt payments, savings for retirement, or for a downpayment on a home or the extra costs of caring for disabled, seriously ill or elderly family members. Across BC, the living wage ranges between $20.64 in Dawson Creek and $26.51 in Clayoquot Sound.
We examined the over 400,000 British Columbians who earn less than $20 per hour and the 650,000 people who earn less than the living wage in seven of the province’s largest urban areas using data obtained through a custom tabulation from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey.
Our analysis reveals large wage inequalities based on gender and race in BC. Shockingly, half of the racialized women working in Metro Vancouver earn less than the region’s living wage of $25.68 per hour.
Who earns less than $20 per hour in BC?
413,100 BC workers earned less than $20 per hour in 2023 (18% of all paid employees in the province, or nearly 1 in 5).
The majority of workers earning less than $20 per hour are women.
244,700 workers earning less than $20 per hour are women (59%).
The majority of workers earning less than $20 per hour are 25 or older, not teenagers and young adults as often claimed.
183,800 workers earning less than $20 per hour are between 15 and 24 years old (44%).
229,400 workers earning less than $20 per hour are 25 or older (56%).
123,400 workers earning less than $20 per hour are between 25 and 44 years old (30%).
81,500 workers earning less than $20 per hour are between 45 and 64 years old (20%).
24,500 workers earning less than $20 per hour are 65 or older (6%).
More than half of workers earning less than $20 per hour are racialized although only 38% of paid employees in British Columbia are racialized.
213,800 workers earning less than $20 per hour are racialized (52%).
Racialized workers are more likely to be paid less than $20 per hour than their counterparts (22% of all racialized workers earn less than $20 per hour compared to only 15% of non-racialized workers)
6% of workers earning less than $20 per hour identify as Indigenous (22,900 people).
Low-wage work is widespread across the province. In most large urban communities, roughly 18% of all workers earn less than $20 per hour with the notable exception of Nanaimo and Chilliwack-Hope (Statistics Canada designation), where a larger share of workers earn less than $20 per hour and Greater Victoria, where a smaller share of workers earn less than $20 per hour.
Share and number of workers earning less than $20 per hour by city
Looking at BC’s seven economic regions, low-wage work (under $20/hour) was more prevalent in the Thompson/Okanagan and the Northeast than in other regions (20% of workers). The two regions with the lowest share of low wage workers were the Kootenays and the North Coast/Nechako (15% of workers).
Share and number of workers earning less than $20 per hour by economic region
Of course, $20 per hour is less than the living wage anywhere in BC and many more workers earn $20 per hour or more but still less than the living wage in their community. Across BC, more than 740,000 people earn less than the local living wage (32% or one in three workers).
Who earns less than the living wage in Metro Vancouver?
Nearly half a million workers in Metro Vancouver – 495,600 or 37% of all paid employees in the region – earn less than the living wage of $25.68 per hour.
The majority of workers earning less than $25.68 per hour in Metro Vancouver are women.
283,100 workers earning less than $25.68 per hour are women (57%).
The majority of workers earning less than $25.68 per hour in Metro Vancouver are 25 or older.
163,600 workers earning less than $25.68 per hour are between 15 and 24 years old (33%).
331,900 workers earning less than $25.68 per hour are 25 or older (67%).
184,900 workers earning less than $25.68 per hour are between 25 and 44 years old (37%).
125,000 workers earning less than $25.68 per hour are between 45 and 64 years old (25%).
22,000 workers earning less than $25.68 per hour are 65 or older (4%).
Nearly two thirds of Metro Vancouver workers earning less than $25.68 per hour in Metro Vancouver are racialized although only 55% of paid employees are racialized.
317,200 workers earning less than $25.68 per hour in Metro Vancouver are racialized (64%).
Racialized workers are more likely to be paid less than $25.68 per hour than their counterparts (44% of all racialized workers earn less than the living wage compared to only 30% of non-racialized workers)
Half of all racialized women working in Metro Vancouver earn less than the living wage of $25.68 per hour.
49% of racialized women working in Metro Vancouver earn less than the living wage, 181,500 people. In contrast, 38% of racialized men earn less than the living wage, as do 35% of white women and 25% of white men.
BC can and should close the gap between the minimum and living wages. Here’s how:
Despite the minimum wage increase to $17.40 per hour, a strikingly large gap remains between the minimum wage and living wages in communities across BC. This gap has grown significantly in the last few years, leaving hundreds of thousands of workers struggling to make ends meet in every part of the province. Closing this gap is key to address the affordability crisis that workers face across BC.
Over 400 BC businesses have stepped up to be living wage employers, paying both direct and contract employees a living wage. We commend these employers for doing their part to reduce working poverty and encourage others to follow their lead.
However, voluntary action alone cannot solve the affordability crisis. The BC government needs to take steps to both lift wages and lower the cost pressures people face so that all workers can thrive.
The large gap between the living and the minimum wages represents a challenge for everyone. For employers who want to do the right thing, paying living wages that are much higher than the minimum wage their competitors pay can be challenging, which unfortunately incentivizes competition based on low wages.
A strikingly large gap remains between the minimum wage and living wages in communities across BC.
The BC government should raise the minimum wage to $20 per hour to narrow the gap between the minimum wage and the living wage, benefitting over 400,000 people of all ages, working in every region of the province. A $20 minimum wage would also help to reduce BC’s large gender and racial pay inequities.
Boosting the earnings of low wage workers will stimulate the local economy because these workers are likely to spend almost all of their extra income in their communities, for example, supporting local businesses by eating out once in a while and participating more actively in community activities.
The BC government should also follow the example of many businesses and municipalities and become a living wage employer, embedding living wage policies in its own procurement systems.
In addition to higher minimum wages, BC workers need pay equity legislation, stronger protections from wage theft and other workplace rights violations, and meaningful access to collective bargaining so they can exercise the right to come together to negotiate better wages and benefits if they so choose.
Of course, at $20 per hour the minimum wage would remain lower than the lowest living wage in any BC community, and living wages will continue to outpace inflation unless we get a handle on runaway rent costs, the most expensive item in most household budgets.
Recently, the federal and provincial governments have made efforts to address the shortage of homes, especially affordable ones. Public investments to create affordable housing must be scaled up and coupled with stronger rent controls because easing the overall housing shortage will take time and current sky-high rent increases between tenancies are putting an increasing number of lower-income renters at risk of homelessness (read more in Time to scale up: next steps for non-market housing in BC and Vacancy control: taking the next step on housing affordability).
Additionally, BC needs to tackle the growing issue of food unaffordability and food insecurity, for example through an affordable food strategy combined with more generous income supports to alleviate financial pressure on low- and middle-income earners.
An expansion of BC’s transit network to provide publicly operated, low-cost transit options in rural areas, an inter-community express bus service and free transit to youth 18 and under would significantly reduce transportation costs for many households (read more in Connecting BC: A 10-year vision for public transit throughout BC). This would build on recent public investments in services that make life more affordable for everyone, such as expanding access to low-cost child care, and the introduction of a public dental care plan and pharmacare.
Far too many workers struggle to make ends meet. As the next provincial election looms, it is imperative that all political parties put forward tangible strategies in response to the affordability crisis that workers continue to face across BC.
Regional fact sheets
Click on the regions below to download their respective fact sheets:
Metro Vancouver
Greater Victoria
Kelowna
Nanaimo
Prince George
Abbotsford-Mission
Chilliwack Hope
This research is co-published by Living Wage for Families BC. Funding was also received from CUPE Metro.
It is also part of Understanding Precarity in BC (UP-BC), a research and public engagement initiative investigating precarious work and multi-dimensional precarity in British Columbia. UP-BC is jointly led by Simon Fraser University’s Morgan Centre for Labour Research and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives BC Office, and brings together four BC universities, 26 community-based organizations and more than 80 academic and community researchers and collaborators. The partnership is supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). For more information about UP-BC visit understandingprecarity.ca.
Topics: Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare

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