When the wages won't meet the cost of living

FluffyMcDeath

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You try to get ahead, work hard, save your money, but in the end you can't stay ahead of the rent.

Here in Vancouver you can rent a reasonable place for about $25 a day. The minimum wage in Vancouver is $8/hr so with full time minimum wage work subtracting your tax and accommodation you can have $12 a day for your other expenses and then maybe some left over. Minimum wage will be going up soon (for the first time in over a decade) to $8.75 and by the end of 2012 it is due to be $10.25. That would leave you with $25 a day just about.

Of course, if you get a room mate then expenses will come down and if you find a better job then your income will go up.

However, some people don't have those options. Instead their accommodations are chosen for them and so is the work they can do and the wage they can earn. In those cases it can be hard to come out ahead, or merely even.
 
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