Those making the lowest wages in B.C. will earn roughly a dollar an hour more starting Thursday.
On June 1, B.C.’s minimum wage jumps from $15.65 to $16.75 an hour, a 7.0 per cent increase. This makes B.C. the province with the highest minimum wage in Canada, though minimum-wage workers in Yukon make a few pennies more.
The B.C. government has made annual increases to the minimum wage since 2018, when minimum-wage workers made $12.65 an hour. The series of hikes has raised the minimum by about a third in the past five years.
Before 2017, B.C. had one of the lowest minimum wages in the country despite being among the most expensive places to live.
The boost, which was announced in early April, is geared toward the rate of inflation and will increase the pay of about 150,000 workers who currently make less than $16.75 an hour.
It also applies to resident caretakers, live-in home support workers and live-in camp leaders. The piece rate for hand-harvesting 15 crops listed in the Employment Standards Regulation will increase by 6.9 per cent on Jan. 1, 2024.
The new base rate is similar to the federal government’s new minimum for federally regulated employees, which rose from $15.55 to $16.65 at the start of April. The 7.0 per cent increase is slightly above the 6.75 per cent increase the B.C. government gave public sector workers earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the living wage has risen to above $20 an hour for many communities in B.C.
The living wage is the hourly wage that two parents working full-time need to earn to support a family of four, as calculated by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. In Greater Victoria, it is $24.29; in Nanaimo, $20.49.
Most jurisdictions in Canada are increasing their minimum wages this year, with the exception of Alberta and Nunavut.
A statement from the B.C. Labour Ministry said it plans to tie all future minimum-wage hikes to the rate of inflation.
MINIMUM WAGES ACROSS CANADA
Minimum wages across Canada range from $13 an hour in Saskatchewan to $16.77 an hour in Yukon, according to Statistics Canada:
• Yukon — $16.77
• B.C. — $16.75
• Federal — $16.65
• Nunavut — $16
• Ontario — $15.50
• Quebec — $15.25
• N.W.T. — $15.20
• Alberta — $15
• New Brunswick — $14.75
• P.E.I. — $14.50
• Newfoundland — $14.50
• Nova Scotia — $14.50
• Manitoba — $14.15
• Saskatchewan — $13
— With files from the Times Colonist
