Whitehorse - The Yukon Anti Poverty Coalition is pleased to release “Living Wage in Whitehorse, Yukon: 2019”. The Living Wage serves as a measure of poverty, as those earning less than the living wage amount in their community will face significant challenges meeting basic needs.
According to Living Wage Canada, the living wage equals the hourly rate of pay that a family requires to meet basic needs such as adequate housing and nutritious food after accounting for government transfers like the Canada Child Benefit and deductions from income such as personal income taxes and EI premiums.
The living wage for Whitehorse is $19.07 per hour in 2019, an increase of $0.50 per hour compared to last year’s living wage of $18.57 per hour. The change was mainly the result of a 2.13% increase in the cost of living, stemming primarily from increases in the cost of child care and transportation. Housing affordability remains a significant concern for low- and modest-income households living in Whitehorse, being the single largest expense for this year’s reference family.
“The findings again demonstrate that Whitehorse has one of the highest living wage rates in the country and that substantial action is required to improve affordability for low- and modest-income households,” says the report’s author, Kendall Hammond. “Specifically, the high cost of housing necessitates urgent attention."
“Unfortunately, we are not seeing much progress over the time we've done the calculation,” says Kristina Craig, Executive Director of YAPC. “Our goal is to work collaboratively with the whole community, using the 10 recommendations in the report, to ensure that the Living Wage is lower next year,” adds Craig.