Calgary's living wage now $10 per hour above Alberta's minimum wage

Calgarians are struggling with rising costs more than ever and their paycheques aren't keeping up, a new report says.

Vibrant Communities Calgary (VCC) announced Monday that Calgary's living wage, the hourly wage that a worker needs to maintain their essential costs, has increased to $24.45 per hour.

VCC executive director Meaghon Reid says that's almost 63 per cent higher than Alberta's current minimum wage.

“Our living wage has gone up year after year, every year, especially since 2019 when we started to see the beginnings of our affordability crisis,” Reid said.

“The challenge is that we have such a big gulf between our minimum wage and our living wage because that minimum wage hasn't increased since 2018."

The VCC also said that food and housing costs are up, with Calgarians paying about 10 per cent more for food and $2,000 more for shelter.

Reid says some government policies like affordable child care are helping, but much of the savings are overwhelmed by rising costs.

Alberta’s $15 per hour minimum wage is currently tied with Saskatchewan’s as the lowest in Canada.

“Alberta’s government understands that significant changes to the minimum wage could negatively impact small businesses, youth and Albertans seeking their first job or part-time employment,” Matt Jones, Alberta’s minister of jobs, economy and trade said in a written statement.

Reid said, however, that the majority of people making minimum wage in Calgary and throughout Alberta are adults – many with families.

“We're not talking about the teenager in the basement who's living off their parents and perhaps doesn't have to pay rent that month,” Reid said.

“We're talking about adults who go to work every day, sometimes work two or three minimum wage jobs just to make ends meet, and that's not a very tenable salary for people who are adults with families and responsibilities."

In his statement, Jones added that changes to the minimum wage affect operational costs, which are passed down to Albertan consumers.

Some workplaces commit to higher salaries

In response to VCC's call for fair wages, about 150 Alberta businesses, including 50 in Calgary, have pledged to offer employees a living wage of at least $24.45 per hour.

Some of those companies include Lafarge Canada, Home Spritz and The Establishment Brewing Company.

Lafarge said its higher wages have helped them attract and retain skilled workers.

"At Lafarge, we believe investing in our people is key to building progress in our cities and communities," said Bob Spence, Lafarge Canada’s southern Alberta senior vice president.

"This investment supports our employees and their families while strengthening the resilience of the areas where we live and work."

Nick Ross, the chief technology officer of home cleaning company Home Spritz, says paying employees well ultimately benefits the company’s bottom line.

“The whole living wage thing, it comes in, it makes sense, makes sense to us as a business,” said Ross, who maintains higher wages lead to better long-term employees.

“These cleaners are great, and they keep clients long term, over the lifetime of a client who stays with us, and stays with the cleaner who gets paid well, and as a result is motivated to do a job well, we way more than make up for that difference would have made in the short term.”

Those comments are echoed by Brandon Hart, co-founder of The Establishment Brewing Company.

“If the employees are happy and they also help us make more money. So I think we feel like it's the social benefit, but it's good for our business as well, for people to enjoy working here,” said Hart.

“And it has not affected our beer prices.”

VCC would like to see Alberta start incrementally raising the minimum wage to bring it in line with the living wage.

Alberta has not changed the minimum wage since 2018.