Ontario minimum wage increasing to $15.50 on October 1 amidst growing inflation

Content Warning: reference to intentional self-starvation

On October 1, the legislated minimum wage in Ontario will increase from $15.00 per hour to $15.50 per hour. This 50 cent increase in minimum hourly wage will affect over 721,000 workers in Ontario, according to Anuradha Dhar, spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, and Training and Skills Development. This change comes at a time of increased costs of living in Ontario and will provide an additional $1,768 per year to a full-time employee earning minimum wage and working 40 hours a week. 53 percent of minimum wage workers in Ontario are between the ages of 15 and 24. 

In a statement to The Strand, Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development Dhar said the Ontario government hopes the change will “help workers keep up with rising costs and inflation.” According to Dhar, the change was determined using Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for 2022, which projected Canada’s inflation rate at 7.6 percent in July, and a formula recommended by the Minimum Wage Advisory Panel in 2014. The CPI is Canada’s official metric of inflation, which measures the change in consumer prices using a basket of goods and services. 

The Strand reached out to Blake Smith (who uses any pronouns), a recent graduate from the University of Toronto. Smith is currently earning minimum wage as a server and has worked other near-minimum wage jobs in the past, including at UofT. When asked if they were able to live comfortably as a student while earning minimum wage, Smith told The Strand: “Short answer, no. When I first started university, I was working a job that paid $20 an hour, and that amount, even combined with OSAP funding, is far less than the cost of living as a student.” 

When asked about his thoughts on the Ontario government’s minimum wage increase, Smith said they believed the change “would make a difference,” but “the actual size of the difference it makes will depend on a lot of different reasons for a lot of different people.” They added that “it’s a 50 cent difference, but ultimately if I was reliant on just minimum wage I still don’t think it would work.” 

Smith shared some of the unfortunate cost-saving techniques they’ve used as a student while earning minimum wage with The Strand. “Some [techniques] are not good for personal health or well-being. One of the easiest cost-saving methods that I’ve used is to just not eat [that much], to be super blunt. It means that I can decrease my grocery expenses and it decreases the time I have to spend on cooking, which is valuable as a student. I’ve also avoided purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables in favour of foods with a longer shelf life.” He added that he didn’t recommend these tactics, but that they were often necessary for students living off minimum wage, telling The Strand, “this is a pretty maladaptive lifestyle choice, so while it may be good for finances, it’s not going to be great in the long term.”

In a written statement, the Ministry of Colleges and Universities referred The Strand to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) when asked about strategies for students struggling with affordability, adding that the Ministry would “continue to look for ways to reduce the barriers that exist for our students.”