Life is tougher for the working poor in Red Deer than in most cities in Alberta.
According to 2009-10 income data from Statistics Canada, 8.46 per cent of Red Deer’s workforce, or 3,400 people, earned less than $10 an hour. Another 6,900 people earned less than $12 an hour.
Only Lethbridge had more people per capita earning less than $10 an hour at 9.12 per cent.
In the entire province, 6.9 per cent of the workforce, or 112,200 people, earned less than $10 an hour and 13.7 per cent, or 223,600 people, earned less than $12.
Statistics were for the 12-month period from April 2009 to March 2010.
The numbers don’t surprise Alice Kolisnyk, operations manager with Red Deer Food Bank.
The food bank saw a 20 per cent increase in demand in the first quarter of 2010.
And Kolisnyk said it won’t stop there. Every summer there’s a jump in demand as people travel through the area.
“We’re on a major thoroughfare in Alberta. We are a transient city,” Kolisnyk said on Thursday.
“I think we’re in for a long summer.”
Public Interest Alberta presented the statistics this week to an Alberta government committee reviewing minimum wage policy.
PIA executive director Bill Moore-Kilgannon said people mistakenly believe that teenagers living with their parents are the low-wage earners.
Statistics prove that is wrong, he said.
Almost 60 per cent of people earning less than $10 are over 20 years old, including 17 per cent who are over age 45.
“Once you’re in those positions, it’s incredibly hard to go back to school or do whatever you have to do to get a higher paying job.”
In April 2009, the province froze its minimum wage at $8.80 an hour, arguing it would protect jobs.
Alberta has the fourth lowest minimum wage in Canada. But two other provinces have announced increases so Alberta will soon have the second-lowest minimum wage despite the high cost of living here, he said.
British Columbia has the lowest minimum wage at $8 and Ontario has the highest at $10.25.
Public Interest Alberta wants the province to develop a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy that would include a living wage.
“There are real costs to keeping the minimum wage low,” Moore-Kilgannon said.
“We know that low-income people tend to use the health-care system more. Low-income families have less time to spend with their kids. Stress and family violence goes up.”
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com