Families who work for low wages face impossible choices — buy food or heat the house, feed the children or pay the rent. The result can be spiraling debt, constant anxiety and long-term health problems. In many cases it means that the adults in the family are working long hours, often at two or three jobs, just to pay for basic necessities. They have little time to spend with their family, much less to help their children with school work or participate in community activities.

The frustration of working harder only to fall further behind is one many Canadians can relate to. Recent CCPA research shows that most families are taking home a smaller share of the economic pie despite working longer hours, getting more education and contributing to what was until recently a growing economy.

In the current period of economic downturn, we can strengthen the economy by raising the incomes of poor families, who tend to spend any extra income they have in the local economy. Raising the lowest wages is an effective means of neighbourhood stimulus.

• BC has the highest child poverty rate in Canada
• BC is the only province where child poverty rates were actually higher in 2006 than in 1997
• BC is one of only two Canadian provinces where median earnings for individuals fell between 2000 and 2005
• More than half of BC’s poor children live in families where at least one person has a full-time job

How to become a Living Wage Employer