What is a Living Wage?
What is a Living Wage?
Vancity is one of Canada’s largest Living Wage employers.
A Living Wage is the hourly rate required for two working parents to meet the basic needs of a family of four. The family of four is the most common family size and the Living Wage for this family is a fair proxy for other family sizes and single adults. Currently, the minimum wage in BC is $14.60/hour and the living wage for Metro Vancouver is $19.50/hour. This means that families who work for low wages often face impossible choices: buy food or heat the house, feed the children or pay the rent. Paying a Living Wage allows individuals and families to meet their basic needs and contribute to their communities. A Living Wage means strong local economies, sustainable cities and healthy communities.
Vancity is committed to meeting (or exceeding) the annual Living Wage rate for our employees and our contracted suppliers. Although in 2019, the Living Wage rate went down slightly, as a direct result of government investments in childcare programs, we have committed to continue to pay the 2018 rate of $20.91/hour.
In previous years, the Living Wage rate in BC was calculated in the first few months of the year and released on May 1st. In order to align with other Living Wage campaigns nationally and around the world, the BC campaign had planned to shift the update and release of the annual wage rate to November. This decision has been made to align with the rest of the country and is important for the future work of the Campaign, as it sets the stage for us to develop a national certification program for large regional, cross-provincial and national employers.
While this change is important to note, the uncertainties and emergency government response initiatives related to COVID-19 have meant that it will be very difficult to accurately calculate living wage rates for any campaign this year. As a result, the living wage rates will remain at the current level until November 2021, the rate of $19.50/hour, with Vancity honoring the 2018 rate of $20.91/hour.
A Living Wage: impacting employees and their communities
As a Living Wage Employer we are building wealth into the communities where we live and work. It’s one of the best local economic development strategies we can employ.
We are committed to meeting the annual Living Wage rate for our employees and our contracted suppliers.
Are you an employer? Want some help on your Living Wage journey?
We want to share what we learned with other employers—the more employers who join us in paying a Living Wage, the more we can impact our local communities.
Download our guide: Living Wage roadmap for large employers (PDF, 1.9MB)
Email us at livingwage@vancity.com for more information
Vancity Living Wage milestones
A Living Wage tackles poverty
“More money in the hands of working families is an important way to solve family and child poverty.”
- Vancity meets the Vatican
CEO Tamara Vrooman speaks with the Pope about the Living Wage - Vancity banks on values-based future
Vancity feature on our values - Vancity becomes the largest organization in Canada to adopt living wage policy
Vancity news release
Learn more about the movement
- What is a Living Wage?
Video on youtube.com - A Living Wage for Families
livingwageforfamilies.ca - Living Wage Canada
livingwagecanada.ca - How to calculate your own Living Wage
Online tool to test how close the way you now pay is to the Living Wage