raise the wage

The other day my friends and I were discussing how it is possible for one of our acquaintances to be getting by on what we estimated is a salary of $17,000 - $22,000 per year. We spent considerable time wondering how this guy affords rent, cable, clubbing four nights a week, and the drinks that go with it.

K thought it just wasn't possible. I suggested that we used to buy books, pay tuition, and lounge about at spring break on just $12k per year.

In the end, I stumbled upon this article regarding average incomes in Canada, which once again shed light on just how far out of the mainstream politicians and university-educated professionals really are.

It seems that the median income of Canadians in 2004 (that is where half the population makes more, half less - including all income from employment, RRSPs, investments, etc) was $24,400.

If you made more than $35,000 in 2004, you were in the top third of incomes in this country, and if, by chance, you made between $50,000 and $75,000 in 2004, rest assured that some 87 percent of Canadians were making less than you.

Of course, then I remembered that after the BC government privatised non-medical hospital workers in the province, staff incomes dropped to about $18k a year - this for mature, long standing employees, many with kids to support.

So a single guy with no responsibilities, expense-sharing roomates, and free food on the job, holding it down on $17k to $22k a year? Looks like he might be ahead of the game.

But MPPs in Ontario were making approximately $88,771 during the time the median Canadian salary was tallied for the article above.

An after-tips salary of $17,000 to $22,000 per year might be near-average...but it doesn't seem right. M's party is working on a campaign to raise the minimum wage to $10/hr*.

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*yes, yes, the inflation implications of such a move are hugely significant. but how to counter them?