Carissa LeClair works her tail off.
Between her two part-time jobs, she barely has any free time.
She set a personal record when she clocked 63 hours in a single week. Then there was the exhausting 52-day stretch she went without taking time off.
But there may be some breathing room for the 27-year-old retail employee Thursday when the province once again bumps up minimum wage by 25 cents to $11.25.
“At the rate it’s at now, I sacrifice my social life and free time just so I can get by and take care of my responsibilities,” she said. “Making a bit more an hour will let me have free time. A day off here and there would mean a lot.”
The child and youth worker graduate works as a sales associate at Govinda Galleries and as a meat clerk at The Great Canadian Superstore until she can find work in her field. She wants to buy a home, but that could take a while at the rate she’s going.
LeClair is currently in the middle of a 21-day stretch with a day off coming on Thanksgiving. That day, she’ll be volunteering in the day care at GoodLife Fitness.
Restaurants taking a hit
While the raise in minimum wage bodes well for hard-working employees, the extra money could spell trouble for the food service industry as it grapples with expanding payrolls.
Dick Bederaux-Cayne refers to Oct. 1 as D-Day. The owner of East Side Mario’s once again will increase his hourly wages for his 60 employees.
While the restauranteur says they deserve the money, there’s no way he can recoup the cost without raising food prices and possibly scaring away customers. Either way, he loses.
“If we hired fewer people or cut hours, my wife and I would have to work even more hours than we do now,” he said. “We haven’t had a vacation in three years.”
What about a fair living wage?
Workers welcome any new pay bump, but earning the new $11.25 minimum wage still leaves many people in a financial bind. To help them overcome those struggles, Windsor’s Unemployment Help Centre has successfully encouraged employers to offer higher pay.
Hundreds of recent job placements pay an average wage between $13 and $15 an hour, said executive director June Muir.
“We try to negotiate a wage that is a living wage when we have the opportunity,” she said. “And our employers understand the importance of paying more.”
Show me the money
A person earning the general minimum wage will bring in $421.88 for a regular week of 37.5 hours. That’s an increase of $9.37 per week or nearly $37.50 per month.
But this latest bump is the second increase since June 2014 when the minimum wage went up 75 cents from $10.25. Combined, these last two increases account for a weekly pay jump of $37.50 for anyone working a regular workweek. Over a month, a minimum wage earner now makes nearly $150 more than they did before June 2014.
Other wage increases
Other minimum wage rates also increase Oct. 1, according to the provincial government. Student employees will now earn $10.55 compared to the previous rate of $10.30. Bartenders and servers now earn $9.80 an hour, up from $9.55.
The rate for hunting and fishing guides jump to $56.30, a slight increase from $55. The province also has a homeworkers rate for people who work from home, which could include a seamstress or telemarketer. Anyone in this category will earn $12.40 an hour, up from the previous $12.10.
Minimum wage history
Ontario’s minimum wage sat frozen at $6.85 between 1996 and 2003 before annual increases kicked in starting in 2004. Those pay bumps went up every year until 2010 when the rate stopped at $10.25 per hour.
The provincial government increased the lowest wage anyone can earn to $11 an hour in June 2014, matching jump in Ontario’s Consumer Price Index since 2010. Last fall, the province amended its Employment Standards Act to link annual minimum wage increases to the CPI.
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