Minimum Wage Workers and Low-paid Worker Mobility
Recent
data released by Statistics Canada sheds new light on people who work
for minimum wages. More that half a million Canadians, or 4%
of the workforce, earn a minimum wage.
Almost all work in the service or retail sectors, two-thirds are women,
and most are under 25, a large number of whom are students. But
10% were heads of their households, with half of those being
single parents, and the other half being people with spouses who were
not working.
Statistics Canada data also reveals that moving beyond low-paid work is difficult for many. Of the 1.7 million Canadian workers who were earning low incomes in 1996 (defined as less than $21,356 annually), fewer than half were able to increase their earnings by more that 20% (to $25,836 annually) as of 2001.
More than 40% of women workers were low-paid, double the rate of low-paid men.
Those who were able to increase their earning beyond the $25,836 annual income threshold between 1996 and 2001, tended to be young educated men.
Two other factors
were prevalent for those with improved earnings; they moved from a non-union
workplace to a unionized one, or they moved from a small to a larger firm.
Source: United Ways of Ontario's Government Relations Bulletin - Issue dd April 30, 2004
Other news ...
Consultation
Launched on Rental Housing
Legislation to Curb Sixty-Hour Work Week
New Provincial Rent Bank and Energy Emergency Fund
Legislation to Allow Family Medical Leave
Report Finds Domestic Homicides Predictable and Preventable
Minimum Wage Workers and Low-paid Worker Mobility
Return to DAWN Ontario index page
Page last updated April 30, 2004