Gap grows between living wage and Ontario’s minimum wage

An empty shopping cart in a grocery store is shown in this undated image. (File photo/Userba011d64_201/Istock.com)

Ontario’s minimum wage continues to lag behind the cost of living.

The provincial minimum wage increased 40 cents, to $17.60 per hour, on Oct. 1. It is now the second-highest provincial rate in the country.

Despite this, the Ontario Living Wage Network (OLWN) said it is still far below what workers need to make ends meet and live comfortably.

“There is still no place in Ontario where you could work full-time and cover all your expenses,” they explained in a report released Monday.

OLWN calculated the living wage for Waterloo Dufferin Guelph Wellington at $23.00 per hour, up $1.70 from the $21.30 hourly rate in 2024.

The living wage for Grey Bruce Perth Huron Simcoe was set at $24.60 per hour, and $21.40 per hour in Brant Haldimand Norfolk Niagara.

The Greater Toronto Area had, not surprisingly, saw the biggest jump. The living wage was set at $27.20, up from $26.00 per hour in 2024, and $9.60 more than the minimum wage.

“If you’re working that minimum wage job, you’re going to be short by $336 a week,” Craig Pickthorne, OLWN’s director of communications, said in an interview with CTV News Toronto. “Because of that difference between the living wage and the minimum wage, it’s so far off now and every year we do the living wage calculations, they continue to pull further and further away from the minimum wage.”

To calculate a region’s living wage, OLWN looked at the expenses for single adult homes, single parent homes and homes with two parents and two children. They factored in the cost for food, shelter, childcare, transportation and recreational costs, then combine them with any applicable government taxes, benefits and transfers. Savings were not taken into account.

According to Pickthorne, the main problem is rising rents.

“We’ve seen in previous years that food prices were part of the increase and there weren’t as much this year as they were last,” he explained. “The 30 to 40 per cent of the living wage rate is because of rent… and so when that goes up, it really has a big influence.”

Pickthorne also said higher rents have pushed people out of Toronto and, in turn, driven up costs in surrounding communities. He noted the “significant” increase in Grey Bruce Perth Huron Simcoe, which stretches from Stratford to Barrie. The living wage in that area has increased 6.7 per cent, or $1.55, in the last year.

OLWN hopes more businesses will consider becoming a certified living wage employer.

“Our goal is to raise wages in Ontario and address poverty through paid work,” they wrote in their report.