OLWN’s 2025 Report highlights workplace inequity

November 25, 2025

By Nate Smelle

The Ontario Living Wage Network has released its 2025 living wage calculations, and the findings illustrate how wages are not keeping pace with the rising cost of living across the province. This year’s report shows an average 5.3 per cent increase in the living wage across OLWN’s 10 regions—an even steeper rise than last year. According to the network’s director of communications Craig Pickthorne, the jump reflects more accurate and up-to-date data on rental costs, especially in rural areas like North Hastings.

In the East Region, where Bancroft and all of Hastings County are located, the living wage has risen from $21.65 an hour in 2024 to $22.20 this year. For those unfamiliar with what a living wage is, this figure represents what a full-time worker needs to earn in order to cover basic expenses such as food, shelter, transportation, childcare, and modest contingency savings. Even with the province’s Oct. 1 minimum wage increase to $17.60, the gap between what people earn and what they need continues to widen. As the OLWN states plainly: there is no place in Ontario where a full-time minimum-wage job is enough to meet basic living expenses.

Pickthorne said one of the biggest methodological changes driving this year’s higher rates is improved and expanded rural rental data collection.

“One thing that we’ve done this year is that we’ve gotten better information about rural rental rates,” Pickthorne explained. In previous years, he said the OLWN relied mostly on Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) data, which excludes communities with fewer than 10,000 people. “We now have some of that data coming to us from the Ontario Rural Institute. So we have a better sense of what people are paying for rent in these areas. In general, as with everywhere else in the province, the major factor that is driving the need to increase living wages is rental costs.”

Pickthorne said the improved data in the East Region — which is a mix of midsized cities like Kingston and Belleville with small rural communities such as those in North Hastings — shows how essential it is to capture a full range of housing costs. The Ontario Rural Institute’s more accurate data “was driving the change,” he said, adding that OLWN relies on organizers in each region to ensure the living wage reflects real, local expenses.

The living wage is not a measure of comfort but of sufficiency, noted Pickthorne. He described the process as rigorous and thorough, beginning each year in the summer.

“We go into each of the regions and we collect information about what kind of expenses a worker would have to cover,” Pickthorne said. “Of course, the largest one is shelter-related costs — that’s the rental of an apartment, plus renters insurance, and some utilities. Then we look at food, transportation, childcare, even high speed internet access, a modest, very modest vacation, and designing for a contingency.  We also factor in any government taxes, transfers, and benefits. And what would get in the end, that calculation produces an hourly wage that someone has to earn, in order to make ends meet.”

After vetting the data with local organizers, he said the OLWN releases the finalized rates each November.

While the GTA remains the most expensive region, rising from $26 per hour to $27.20, its increase was not the steepest. That distinction goes to the Southwest region, including Windsor and Essex County, where the living wage jumped 8.3 per cent, rising from $19.85 to $21.50.

The East Region’s new rate—$22.20 per hour—underscores what many in North Hastings already know: covering basic necessities is becoming increasingly difficult even outside the province’s largest population centres.

Beyond calculating the wage itself, Pickthorne said the OLWN also works with organizations that want to certify as living wage employers. After a year in the program, employers complete a survey on their experience.

“The number one thing they select… as the reason why they wanted to become certified is that it aligns with their values,” Pickthorne said. Employers see certification as a concrete way to communicate their commitment to fairness — to their workforce and to the public.

“The number one thing that they select out of a bunch of options as the reason why they wanted to come certified is that it aligns with their values as an organization or as an employer,” he explained. “So, it turns out that there’s no better way, according to employers, to communicate your values to the world, than to certify as a living wage employer; and brandish the mark of a certified employer on their website, on their physical addresses, and their vehicles.”

The survey results reveal tangible benefits as well, Pickthorne told Bancroft This Week. While some employers leave the program — usually due to business closure or difficulty keeping up with rising wage levels — he said attrition is low and the majority remain committed.

Employers report decreased turnover, he said, which in turn reduce the high costs of recruitment and training. In addition, he said they also see less absenteeism and less fatigue among their workers. That stability improves productivity and morale.

“If you’re earning a minimum wage, there’s no place in this province where you can actually pay your bills,” Pickthorne noted. “So people have to get second jobs. You don’t have to do that if you’re paid a living wage. So employers notice all those benefits. When you give people at the lowest end of the pay scale a raise, that money just goes back into the community. They don’t invest it offshore, they just put it back into where they live.”

That spending, he said, boosts local businesses and strengthens economic resilience, particularly in rural regions where financial pressures can quickly ripple through the community.

Pickthorne also acknowledged the importance of understanding that a living wage is not only an economic issue but a social one. When residents cannot afford basic needs on one full-time job, the entire fabric of community life frays.

“When you have a community with a a whole bunch of people in it who are not able to make ends meet and pay all their bills with one job, that means they have to hold down multiple jobs,” explained Pickthorne. “In turn, that means that they probably have no disposable income, and they’re not going to be able to participate in their community as much as they would want to. So civic life takes a hit, our cultural life takes a hit. All the things that we value about living in a community are made more difficult, because there’s a whole class of workers that we’ve decided can work 40 hours a week just like anybody else, but at the end of that week they don’t have have a week’s worth of living expenses covered. That has an impact on communities.”

The advantages of paying people a living wage don’t stop there, he said, noting “The benefits to the economy would be significant and there would be better social cohesion, where people have enough to live. What else is worked for, right, if not to pay all your bills? So the benefits to society are well understood. You have better social cohesion, you have better health outcomes, that’s a big one that’s well known. People are just healthier when they don’t have to scrape and struggle.”

The OLWN’s 2025 report underscores a reality many Ontarians feel daily: the rising cost of living is rapidly outpacing wages, and minimum wage policy is insufficient to close the gap.

By capturing more accurate data and working closely with local organizers and employers, Pickthorne said the OLWN hopes its annual calculations will continue to highlight what workers truly need to live with dignity.