What do you consider to be a living wage in Calgary?
The latest calculation I've seen shows that a person living in Calgary needs to be making about $13.25 an hour to have a real life and not live in poverty.
This figure seems a little low to me. What does the rest of CP think?
With rents in the 4 digits, a salary of 13.25 is only about 2200 per month, after taxes and rent there would be little money left for anything. You'd basically need a room mate to survive.
I remember when I graduated from college, $2000.00 a month was a kings ransom. Now I make a lot more and I still struggle.
Damn my hooker and blow addictions.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
I guess it depends on what they consider a "real life". That seems very low to me. My real life would include such things as:
- Not needing a roommate or not needing renters
- Not having CC debt
- Contributing to my RSPs and savings
- Not having to pack a lunch every day
- being able to take one or two trips a year
- Being able to afford a decent car
and a variety of other things. I believe the first real job I had ~14 years ago was more than that...and in fact the co-op workterms I had were probably higher than that too not even taking inflation into consideration.
I recall a former coworker lamenting she was unable to afford a place on her own and had to still live with her parents and she made more than that.
For me in 2003 I considered a liveable wage in Calgary to be 42K
When I was in Vancouver, I was offered 52K but found at that time that 42K in Calgary gave me a better standard of living than 52K in Vancouver. I could walk to work in Calgary, In Vancouver I would have had to take the train, or multiple trains.
After 5 years my salary has gone up considerably, more so % wise than what I think the different jobs in Vancouver would have. However Everytime I drive on a residential street in Calgary durring winter I always wonder if I made the right choice
In 5 years I have paid off my considerable student loan debt load and each year have been able to pay for a vacation outside of continental North America without going into debt.
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MYK - Supports Arizona to democtratically pass laws for the state of Arizona
Rudy was the only hope in 08
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I remember living in Vancouver while I went to school for my last two years (about 17 or 18 years ago). It seems to me I had rent of $700/month, paid about $200/month on food, paid $50 for transit. It seems to me I lived on 35 hrs / week x $12/hr. I had a little bit of savings from my summer job (which paid for school). I remember that when I bought groceries I had a strict budget. I also remember having basic telephone, no cable. I also recall I was able to have pizza at least once a week, and still went out to the pub on weekends. But I remember dialing into radio stations to win tickets to movies, and being the guy that bought the subs so that I could get a free one every once in a while. I certainly wasn't building a nest egg.
It would be very difficult to go back to that lifestyle now, but I think that we, as a society have become expectant that we are entitled to all of these lifestyle things. I would guess that $13.25 would let you get by, but you would have to really manage your finances and couldn't have anything go wrong in your life.
It seems to me I had rent of $700/month, paid about $200/month on food, paid $50 for transit. It seems to me I lived on 35 hrs / week x $12/hr.
Another look at it:
Minimum wage in alberta: $8.40
x 40 hours per week: 336
X 4 weeks: 1344
I don't know what the tax rate would be for someone in this situation. For sake of argument, I'll assume they get to take home 75% of their wage. Therefore after tax you've got about $1000
A quick scan of craigslist shows that its very easy to have accommodations in the low $400 range. You can get into the $300 range if you reaaaallly look and stretch but lets peg it at $400 even. Food - both me an edn88 lived on $200 a month back in college - I don't see why that number's a problem. Transit is what, $85 a month these days? Throw in $100 a month for utilities and you're at a total of $785 for your essentials.
These assumptions leave you with $215 a month for non-essential items. Nobody said it was going to be comfortable or advisable but unless someone can show me a pretty gaping hole in my numbers (which is possible - they're pretty back of the napkin made up in the time it took me to type this), minimum wage = a living wage... if you want it to be.
What do you consider to be a living wage in Calgary?
