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Index of our Water Cooler Survey Blogs. Should We Subsidize Work? Should society top up her pay? Hyslop. As of this month, Sue Collard makes one dollar above minimum wage. Even after six years at the same retail job in north Surrey, she isn't surprised her salary remains low. The justification is we need to be competitive - - isn't that always the justification? She works four days a week for more than minimum wage. Her partner has a full- time job in sales at an insurance company. She has one child to take care of, a 1. But the family is only squeaking by on about $4. When Collard isn't working, she's trying to home- school her son to complete his Grade 1. Various psychological and developmental problems keep him at home, out of school and unemployed. But she says there are no government supports available for his education and care. And they make too much money to qualify for tax benefits. The family is perpetually strapped for cash, unable to afford emergency expenses. I'll give you an example: in the past four months there's been a car breakdown, dental, and two emergency vets. Collard estimated she's spent between $5,0. Insurance only covers 5. Collard's job carries no health benefits. She's already used up her three days of annual sick leave. Put simply, Collard needs to make more money. Raise the Rates, a coalition of anti- poverty activists in Vancouver wants the minimum wage bumped to at least $1. BC NDP leadership hopeful Nicholas Simons campaigned last year in part on a promise to meet that demand if he led an NDP government. The party chose Adrian Dix - - who supports the present rate - - as its leader. In any case, merely forcing employers to pay more incurs its own undesirable consequences. It puts financial pressure on small businesses. In turn businesses put pressure on government, typically arguing that raising minimum rates will lead to fewer people working - - at any wage. If raising the wage is too expensive for small business, and politically risky for politicians, where does that leave people like Collard? Economists like Krishna Pendakur from Simon Fraser University say that one answer is for other taxpayers, through the government, to top- up their poorest neighbours' paychecks to a more livable level. The idea, Pendakur says, is for the public to subsidize minimum wages with . We have the Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB), which provides a small tax benefit to low- income workers issued four times a year. Several provinces also offer their own supplements for low- income workers, often as part of their provincial poverty plans. We've even experimented with larger subsidies. The Self- Sufficiency Project (see sidebar) of the early 1. B. C. The United States offers the Earned Income Tax Credit, a similar program for low- income families with children. Those who favour wage subsidies argue we need to increase and broaden our subsidies if they're going to help low- income workers like Collard. Number crunchers like Michael Mendelson of the Caledon Institute believe tax dollars should instead go to increasing benefits like the Canada Child Tax Benefit and the WITB, and that subsidizing a low- wage economy will make poverty worse on all of us. Raising the return to work. Previous articles on the 'living wage' and a guaranteed annual income foreshadowed Pendakur's criticisms of those policies' ability to reduce poverty. An economist who researches the social costs of poverty and homelessness, he believes the way to bring the working poor out of poverty is a government wage subsidy. As Pendakur would have it, British Columbia's minimum wage would remain in place, but the federal or provincial governments would pay a small subsidy to workers making that rate. As their 'market' pay rate increased above the legal minimum wage, the public subsidy would decrease. For example, if someone earns $1. British Columbia's new minimum wage - - the government could add $5 per hour to that cheque. If they get a raise to $1. So if we want to live in a society where people, throughout their lives, work, then it can be advantageous to subsidize that work so that they do it. If government finds fraud is rare, the subsidies could increase. It's not such a far- fetched idea. Pendakur compares it to America's Earned Income Tax Credit, which provides low- income families with children a tax benefit to assist with social security costs and keep them in the workforce. It's an expensive program that cost the U. S. The money that the program's beneficiaries pay for goods and services, however, cycles through the economy and tax systems, offsetting at least part of that cost. The Self- Sufficiency Project. Canada already has a small government wage subsidy program in the WITB for low- income workers. In order to qualify for the supplement in B. C., a family must make less than $2. For Vancouver, the income thresholds are less than every low- income cut- off except that for individuals. WITB isn't Canada's only foray into subsidizing wages. Several provinces also offer modest working income supplements for low- income or unemployed workers, some as a part of an overall provincial poverty reduction strategy. There are also a few supplements for people with disabilities going through job training and temporary or part- time work. But the first experiment with a national program was the Self- Sufficiency Project (SSP) (see sidebar). Beginning in the early 1. Tested in British Columbia and New Brunswick, it was designed to get people who could work off welfare. In a 2. 00. 3 report, the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation concluded the program had paid for itself. Increases in tax revenues and a reduction in welfare enrolment covered most of its cost. The report added that if something like the Self- Sufficiency Program were fully implemented, welfare costs would likely continue to decrease over time. At they same time, researchers . And the mid- range age children - - ages four, five and six - - were seeing gains in their vocabulary tests and skills, because they were probably spending more time at daycare. But he fears there are fewer people on welfare today capable of finding high- paying jobs. Welfare numbers have decreased significantly in B. C. In 1. 99. 5, for example, the number of people on social assistance across the province classified as . In order to avoid what he calls the . It's going to be expensive because some of the money has to go to people you don't intend it to go to. In its model, subsidies exist in addition to a higher minimum wage, government tax benefits and strict employment standards for low- wage workers. But Michael Mendelson, a senior scholar at the Institute, argues that Pendakur's idea for subsidizing low- income jobs could be dangerous for the economy. You can't have low levels of poverty in an impoverished economy with low wages. He estimates the total cost of the institute's plan could have been covered by the two percentage point cut in the GST rate introduced by the Conservative government over 2. Pendakur is not against expanding tax benefit programs in addition to a wage subsidy. In fact he says that would be one of the cheaper ways of introducing more money into poor people's pockets, because it does not require a large government overheard. It's like a few lines of code. You don't have to pay an administrator, the entire system is already there. But are federal Tories going to do that? It's not their thing. It's totally feasible, no problem. The problem is politicians believe the voters don't want to do this stuff. If Canadians are indeed as concerned as Pendakur believes about the effects of poverty, it's clear government isn't getting the message. A wealthy country like Canada could afford a more equal society. But Canadians would need to decide that they'd rather pay to prevent poverty today, than face a larger tab later on. Read more: Local Economy, Rights + Justice, Labour + Industry, THE SELF- SUFFICIENCY PROJECTIn the late 1. Barry Carin saw a problem: a majority of people on welfare could have held a job, but they didn't work because, simply put, work didn't pay. Many were single mothers who couldn't afford to lose the benefits that came with social assistance and pay for the transportation, new clothes and childcare that were required for work. Especially when jobs for low- skilled workers paid only marginally more than welfare. Carin, assistant deputy minister for the federal Department of Employment and Immigration at the time, believed the patchwork of social assistance programs available to would- be workers was inadequate, and actually prevented people like single parents from getting off welfare. In exchange, Carin's department introduced cuts to unemployment insurance, including stricter eligibility rules and limited the duration of coverage. Experiments included the Self- Sufficiency Project, a decade- long project involving 9,0. B. C. Participants who found a job within one year of signing onto the project received a wage supplement for three years that brought them up to an earnings benchmark. In 1. 99. 4 that benchmark was $3. Carin left the project in 1. Department of Foreign Affairs. He regrets not staying around to ensure the supplement would increase, not decrease, if the participant got a raise. You don't want anyone to face a situation where they say 'Don't give me that raise!' . Participants who received subsidies returned to work faster than the control group. Full- time employment increased while welfare recipients decreased. Even after the wage subsidies ended, income continued to increase and poverty decreased among the program alumni. Here is a glossary of terms to help cut through the economese. Living Wage: An hourly wage that covers the essential costs of food, clothing, housing, healthcare, transportation, education, childcare and incidentals in the region where it applies. Minimum Wage: TThe lowest hourly wage you are legally allowed to pay a worker in a jurisdiction like British Columbia. Canada's first universal social program, it lasted until 1.
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