A closer look at low wages in BC

According to the OECD, a low-wage job pays less than two thirds of the median wage, or the wage at the exact midpoint of the wage scale. [...] When the work day ends, you say goodnight to the security guard at the front en- trance of the office and head for the supermarket to pick up an item or two for dinner. [...] Every one of these events probably brought you face to face with some of BC’s lowest-paid workers, from the staff at the coffee shop first thing in the morning to the shelf stockers and cashiers at the supermarket later in the day. [...] The table shows the most frequent median wage for each job for both full-time and part-time workers and the percentage of jobs filled by part-timers. [...] The year 1989 was the best The third poorest group year for the economy in the 1980s just prior to the recession of 1990/1991, and 2007 suffered the biggest was the last good year before the current recession.