The growing concern of the city’s underemployed and underpaid

Part 3 of the Times Colonist’s poverty series takes a look at the working poor in Greater Victoria.

While Victoria’s five per cent unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the province, job seekers and advocates say a drastic shortage of well-paid low- to medium-skill jobs is putting people at risk of poverty. “There is no such thing anymore as medium-pay, low-skill work,” said Randy Waldie, a case manager at WorkLink Employment Society, which provides government-sponsored employment services on the West Shore. “It used to be you could make a living wage in mills, mines, manufacturing or working in a bakery. … Now if it’s low-skill, it’s low pay.”

Read the article: Two jobs not enough for single mom

Source: Times Colonist

Introduction: Growing problem of hidden poverty in Victoria

Part 1: How domestic violence is driving homelessness in Greater Victoria

Part 2: Childhood poverty and the single-parent trap

Part 3: The growing concern of the city’s underemployed and underpaid

Part 4: An aging population in financial limbo and a housing crisis 

Part 5: Changes needed to address Greater Victoria poverty