The hourly rate of income considered a livable wage is continuing to rise for Atlantic Canadians. Food and housing costs are the most expensive items for household budgets in the region, and incomes are not keeping pace with surging prices, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). The blanket average income needed to live in Newfoundland and Labrador went up 7.38 per cent from last year, now sitting at $27.18 an hour. For Prince Edward Island it’s $24.08, up 5.75 per cent, Nova Scotia’s average rate went up 3.73 per cent to $28.63. In Halifax, the living wage rate sits at $30 an hour. For the first time, another Atlantic Canadian region surpassed it. The Labrador-Northern Peninsula now has the highest rate at $30.50 per hour. The data comes from the CCPA’s new report “2026 Living Wages for Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island: Beyond Affordability,” which covers the hourly rate a household would have to make in a region to pay their bills and live with dignity. For New Brunswickers, the Human Development Council publishes the province’s living wage rates. They calculate the rate at roughly $24.84 per hour for 2026. “These numbers should give us pause,” says co-author of the CCPA report Dr. Russell Alan Williams in a news release. The Memorial University professor suggests looking beyond the “narrow” framing of an affordability crisis. “Ask why so many people are struggling to earn enough to live a decent life,” he says. “The problem isn’t simply that prices are going up. It is that too many workers don’t earn enough, and too many people lack access to the public programs and services that support economic security.” The CCPA says the labour market in the region is “perpetually low-waged.” One in five workers in Atlantic Canada earns less than $20 an hour, according to its report. The yearly report makes a series of policy recommendations aimed at closing the gap between incomes and essential expenses. One recommendation is raising minimum wages across the provinces. “The real value of minimum wages in Canada peaked in the late 1970s and then stagnated for decades, failing to keep pace with the cost of living,” the report states. Dr. Daniel Cerdas Sandí, the lead data analyst for the report and CCPA-Atlantic researcher, attributes low wages as a factor in many of the labour market challenges Atlantic Canada is facing. “A generation of blaming workers’ demands for decent pay for societies’ economic woes has created a situation where workers cannot pay their bills, and employers cannot find workers,” the report reads. “When people cannot afford to live in the communities where they work, employers will continue to struggle to attract and retain workers,” Cerdas Sandí says. Dr. Christine Saulnier, CCPA Atlantic director and co-author of the new report, says employers paying a living wage is only one part of the solution. “Governments also have a responsibility to strengthen public services, improve income security and address the structural inequalities that leave so many people struggling to make ends meet,” she says. “Without action on both wages and the public policies that shape people’s economic security, thousands of workers across Atlantic Canada will continue to struggle to make ends meet,” Cerdas Sandí adds. Saulnier emphasizes the difficult choices Atlantic Canadians have to make if their income is beneath the living wage. “If you are not earning this conservative estimate of what it takes, the really truly you are struggling,” she told CTV News Atlantic. “Rent is coming out first, what’s left? Food is not exactly discretionary. We know people are making choices around food, some parents are having to skip meals because they want the children to have enough.” When the CEO of Souls Harbour Rescue Mission saw the CCPA’s new data on Monday morning, she says she was absolutely shocked. “I don’t think people understand the implications for our guests,” says Michelle Porter. She says the amount of people seeking food and shelter from the charity are growing “tremendously,” and winter is their busiest time of year. “We are averaging 1,000 meals a day,” Porter says. When the charity’s guests see the liveable hourly rate, she says it might be disheartening. “I think as our guests are watching TV and hearing on the news that the living wage has gone up to $30 here in Halifax, I think it will be a blow to their ego, a blow to their sense of hope. Like, ‘Wow, I thought I was going to get this minimum wage job here, but I’m still not going to be able to make ends meet,’” she says. The CCPA’s living wage is the hourly rate a reference household needs to cover all basic annual expenses, including child care, transportation, shelter, food and clothing. The reference family the data is based on includes two full-time working parents and two young children. The centre acknowledges the reference household does not cover the full spectrum of real-world situations, including those experiencing chronic illness or disability.
