The 2024 living wage for Metro Vancouver is $27.05 per hour. This is the hourly rate that each of two parents working full-time must earn to support a family of four in Metro Vancouver. The living wage is enough for a family with two young children to cover the necessities, support the healthy development of their children, escape severe financial stress and participate in the social, civic and cultural lives of their communities. It affords a decent if still very modest standard of living without the extras many of us take for granted.
Although inflation has come down from the historic highs recorded in 2022, the cost of living—and particularly housing—in Metro Vancouver continues to increase rapidly, intensifying the affordability crisis. Government initiatives to help households absorb some of the cost increases, such as ongoing child care affordability improvements, the gradual roll-out of the new Canadian Dental Care Plan and increases to key income-tested BC government benefits, have helped to remove pressure from stretched family budgets. However, the savings are entirely consumed by soaring prices, especially for food and shelter, which continue to rise faster than general inflation.
The living wage is a powerful tool to ensure paid work results in a decent standard of living and enables a life that is about more than a constant struggle to get by.
In addition to Metro Vancouver, the living wage was calculated in 24 other BC communities.
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