The minimum wage in Manitoba will rise by 40 cents at the start of October, reaching $16.40 an hour, but it will still be short of what workers need, says the Manitoba Federation of Labour.

According to the MFL, which cites a report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, workers in Winnipeg need $19.77 an hour simply to meet basic needs.

The provincial government took positive steps by including several affordability measures in its recent budget, such as free bus passes for youth, free menstrual products at work and free child care for low income families, the MFL said in a news release.

But boosting the minimum wage to a proper living wage level would do far more to help, the release stated.

Soaring prices in groceries, fuel, housing and other essentials hits lowest-wage workers the hardest, it said.

No one should work full time and still live in poverty but that is the harsh reality for many minimum wage earners in the province, MFL president Kevin Rebeck said in the news release.

Manitoba began indexing its minimum wage increases to the cost of living (inflation) in 2017, under the Progressive Conservative government.

Rebeck wants the province to scrap that approach, saying it keeps minimum wage workers trapped below the poverty line.

Instead, the government should create its own plan to lift those workers out of poverty, Rebeck said.

Prior to the changes in 2017, the minimum wage in Manitoba was primarily set through annual increases determined by the provincial government rather than following a fixed formula.