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Common Front for Social Justice |
Minimum wage went to $6.50 on January 1st, 2006
Once again, the Lord government keeps low-paid workers in poverty.
At $6.50 an hour, an employee working 40 hours per week, 54 weeks a year, earns an annual income of $14,040.00, that is, $3,367.00 below the poverty line, if he or she lives alone.
A single mother receiving the minimum wage will find herself at $7,629.00 below the poverty line. [1].
In order to not live in poverty, the minimum wage should be at least:
$8.06 for a person with no family dependent;
$10.03 for a mother with one child.
The minimum wage has the effect of driving down all salaries. [2] As wages are the only source of income for the majority of citizens, they are at the very heart of the well being of a population. For employers, they are but a cost. For society, they are the entire reason for economic exchanges.
Contrary to the Liberals, since their rise to power in 1999 the Conservatives have regularly increased the minimum wage, but they are pathetic increases that take longer and longer to come about.
This real march against poverty, when will it happen?
1.National Council of Welfare
STATISTICS CANADA'S BEFORE-TAX LOW INCOME CUT-OFFS (1992 BASE) FOR 2004 From WELFARE INCOMES 2004 (Spring 2005).
Family Size |
New Brunswick |
1 |
$17,407 |
2 |
$21,669 |
3 |
$26,639 |
4 |
$32,345 |
5 |
$36,685 |
6 |
$41,375 |
7+ |
$46,065 |
2. Samuel LeBreton, Senior Economist, New Brunswick Human Resources Development,
L'Acadie Nouvelle, Tuesday, January 28, 2002 .