re: University grads want the good life right away
There is indeed a problem with Canada’s basic wages. The cursory comparison the author of this letter makes between life in 1951 and life today is not helpful in delving deeply into the challenges currently facing many people across our province.
First, there are three times more people looking for jobs than the number of jobs that exist.
As a result, many university, college and high school graduates, along with countless others, are desperately searching for jobs that simply don’t exist.
Second, for those who find work, the minimum wage of $10.25 an hour is by no means a living wage. Over 30,000 people in Hamilton who have jobs still fall below the poverty line.
For a person employed full-time to be lifted to the poverty line, the minimum wage would need to rise to $11 an hour.
To achieve a living wage, Hamiltonians would have to earn $14.95 an hour.
Third, the ability of anyone — be that a university graduate or retiree — to determine how they spend their income is not about entitlement, it’s about choices.
Certainly one needs to live within one’s means, but as a society, we also need to support one another to ensure that all of us have the means to make personal choices that enable us to live with dignity.
In fact, this whole conversation is about dignity, that our basic wages should empower one to fully contribute to one’s community.
As such, I am delighted that through the efforts of the Hamilton Poverty Roundtable, the City of Hamilton has made our community a Living Wage community.
The Reverend Bill Mous
Dundas