Though it doesn鈥檛 change our reality, knowing where we stand can often be a comfort or make us feel less alone in our struggles.
Finding out she is iron deficient, for example, doesn鈥檛 make a patient feel less run down, but knowing why she feels the way she does at least explains things and makes her feel less crazy as she drags herself through her day.
A diagnosis can also help us make informed decisions about our health.
Similarly, knowing the fact that the population of 撸奶社区is more than 29,200 (as of July 1st, 2023) helps us make sense of the increasing feeling that the community is much busier than it used to be.
It is!
(That Statistics Canada population figure is for the 撸奶社区Census Agglomeration (CA), which means 撸奶社区proper and the surrounding area.)
The recently released reveals that the hourly wage each parent in a family with two young kids would need to earn to pay for the basics in 撸奶社区is $25.13. That is $7.73 higher than the minimum wage for B.C.
In other words, the couple would need to earn a gross household income of $91,000 to survive in this town.
That doesn鈥檛 include money for paying any debts, accumulating savings or buying any extras.
So, if you are making that amount or less, and life feels like a struggle, it is not that you are mismanaging your money; it is the cost of living in this town.
And if you are an employer offering less than a living wage, that is likely why turnover is high.
The Community Foundation鈥檚 report also helps explain why so many of us have been losing friends and neighbours over the last few years, as the cost of living here increased.
鈥淢any community members are opting to move due to financial strain,鈥� the report notes.
鈥淚n 2016, the number of 撸奶社区residents choosing to move in the previous five years was 26%; by 2021, this rate increased to 33%.鈥�
Knowing this doesn鈥檛 give us a cure for what ails us, but it does arm us with information as we make our own decisions about staying, going, taking or leaving a job, or offering a higher wage during our company鈥檚 next round of hiring.
The next Stats Can population release is scheduled for early 2025 and will include population estimates as of July 1, 2024.
After creating this first report, the Community Foundation has vowed to continue producing these living wage reports.
It isn鈥檛 entirely clear who originally said this, but the sentiment is apropos here: 鈥淜nowledge shared is power multiplied.鈥�
