In the past three years, the living wage in Calgary has risen dramatically from $18.60 an hour in 2022 to $26.50 in 2025.

That increase of $7.90 per hour represents the hourly wage that the average worker needs to earn in order to cover the necessities of life, as well as be an active participant in their community.

But there are few businesses that would likely be able to shoulder a 42 per cent increase in wages over three years, if they had been paying employees that original $18.60 wage in 2022.

Momentum, a local non-profit that helps empower Calgarians through financial and employment training, ran a six-month pilot program called the Living Wage Program to help businesses navigate towards providing a living wage for their workers while still being competitive.

Jeff Loomis, Executive Director of Momentum, said that most business owners want to do the right thing, but that good intentions alone don’t balance the books.

“The living wage project, we think, busted the myth that small businesses can’t afford to pay living wages. It showed that for businesses, when there is a will, there’s often a way to pay staff more,” he said.

“It’s not easy, especially as the living wage has increased significantly over the last number of years, as the cost of living has gone up very significantly. But it is possible.”

The pilot, which ran from May to October of this year, connected volunteer business advisors with four businesses to create an environment where everything from operations to marketing could be looked at and refined for greater profitability.

In turn, those shifting finances would be used to help move towards paying a living wage, with one of the four already certified as a living wage employer and three working towards certification.

“We were thrilled that three of those four cleaning companies are on track to be certified living wage providers, and so the businesses just really blew us away in terms of being able to make those differences together,” said Loomis.

“Another key piece to the project that was really unique was that the businesses really did work together. There was a peer support aspect of learning from each other. So, instead of viewing themselves as competitors, they really focused on that they were they could be collaborators, and they were able to share wins with each other and the learnings from each other as they worked together towards being able to pay a living wage.”

There would also be tangible long-term advantages for those businesses and for society as a result of the pilot, said Loomis.

“It’s pretty remarkable, there’s over 50 people who will now be earning more money and will be more able to stay at that company. That will benefit the businesses, and it benefits all of us, because then they won’t need other services as much because they’ll be making more money for them and their families,” he said.

Clean Club Calgary was one of the participants in the pilot program and was certified by the Alberta Living Wage Network as a living wage provider.

Judith Virag, founder of Clean Club Calgary, said that paying a fair living wage was a sound business decision.

“Living wages strengthen employee retention, boost morale, and ensure our team can meet their needs without financial stress. Profitability matters, but long-term success depends on how we treat our people, and paying a living wage is central to that,” she said.

Being a part of the pilot, said Virag, was an important part of her business journey.

“The Living Wage Program truly opened my eyes. It helped me understand how to better manage my financials so I can confidently provide my team with the wages they deserve,” she said.

Loomis said that Momentum would be running another phase of the pilot in 2026 and that all four of the cleaning companies would be continuing to work with the non-profit on how to reduce barriers to employment.

“We developed good relationships with those companies, and we will continue to work with them in different ways so that they can contribute both economically to our community, but also the social impact by being living wage employers,” he said.