A handful of businesses in Sault Ste. Marie will have to dig much deeper into their pockets if they want to maintain their status as a certified salaried employer. According to a report released Monday by the Ontario Living Wage Network (OLWN), the living wage for the Sault has risen to $19.70 an hour in 2022 — a 21.6 per cent increase over last year’s living wage of $16.20 per hour, representing the largest jump province-wide.
The minimum wage in Ontario is $15.50 an hour. “I was shocked by it,” said Kurtis McDermid, whose business, Odd Job Jack’s, was certified as a living wage employer by OLWN earlier this year. “It was definitely a lot bigger than we thought it was.”
McDermid employs about 20 people, on average, in key jobs in lawn care, snow removal, landscaping and janitorial services. “We’re going to have to really look at whether we can keep the living wage set right now because we’re hiring mostly entry-level positions,” he said. “That would mean the majority of our staff, all our workers would have to see an increase and all our managers, we would have to scale them up with that to keep things fair and appropriate for everyone. “I mean we’ve had a 21.6 percent increase on the living wage, so we’re going to see a wage increase around that, maybe 15 to 20 percent. We would have to see a pay raise to maintain our certification and I don’t know if the money is in the bank for that.” OLWN communications co-ordinator Craig Pickthorne says the “unprecedented” increase in food and shelter is a big factor in rising living wages across Ontario, which are calculated based on the cost of basic items like shelter, food, transport and childcare and applicable government taxes, transfers or benefits in order to arrive at an hourly wage that someone must work full-time to make ends meet. “A small part of that is we’ve had to consolidate some areas, but really, what most of that growth is about is housing and food and the affordability of those things,” Pickthorne said. OLWN, which is made up of employers, workers, non-profit organizations and researchers, notified certified living wage employers in northern Ontario ahead of this year’s report that living wage rates will jump.
“Although we’re finding that, for the most part, employers know what’s coming, especially this year when all we’re seeing in the news is inflation and the cost of living is going up,” Pickthorne said. However, OLWN says there are actions that can be taken collectively to affect affordability, such as the $10-a-day national child care program that has resulted in 92 per cent of licensed child care providers in Ontario signing up to participate. “It makes you wonder what else we can do, especially in terms of housing costs, rent control and rent affordability? What can we do as a society, through government, to make things more accessible?’ Pickthorne said. There is a six-month cooling-off period for Living Wage-certified employers to adjust wages in order to maintain their OLWN certification, although in some cases a wage rate may be negotiated or the wage implementation extended. McDermid is proud of the fact that he has been able to offer certified living wages to the employees of Odd Job Jack’s and his cleaning division, The Clean Team. It affects his marketing, and he made it a point to defend his certification during his run for councilor in this year’s municipal election. As the cost of food, housing and other basic goods and services continues to rise, he is left wondering if he can afford to maintain his OLWN certification as a salaried employer.
“A 21 percent jump is just not possible without some major choices being made,” McDermid said.
There are currently five employers in Sault Ste. Marie — Village Media, Odd Job Jack’s, Laker Express, YNCU Sault Ste. Marie on Trunk Road and Habitat for Humanity Sault Ste. Marie — who have been certified by OLWN as living wage employers.