Minimum wages were meant to ensure that working people earn enough to keep them out of poverty. However, even with last year’s increase in Alberta’s minimum wage to $7.00 per hour, individuals and families working fulltime all year do not earn enough to escape poverty. This can be illustrated by comparing minimum wage earnings with commonly accepted measures of poverty.

Low-Income Cut0Offs (after tax) for 2004
Population:	Rural	Under 30,000	30,000-100,000	100,000 to 499,999	Over 500,000
Individual Household	$11,025	$12,617	$14,075	$14,253	$16,853
Four Person Household	$20,844	$23,856	$26,613	$26,948	$31,865
Source: Statistics Canada, Income Statistics Division

An individual working full-time, year round (40 hours a week for 52 weeks a year) earning $7.00 per hour in 2004 would have earned $12,806 after deductions and taxes. This does not even allow an individual without children to escape poverty, to say nothing of those supporting a family on one wage, or single-parent households.

Even if both parents in a family of four worked full-time all year, their combined income of $25,612 after deductions and taxes is still significantly below the amount needed to meet the basic needs of their family without social assistance.

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