BC’s minimum wage is set to jump almost 7% later this year on June 1.
Before the announcement, the minimum wage in BC was $15.65, and now a 6.9% hike will take minimum wage employees up to $16.75 per hour.
The news comes on the heels of economic hardships facing many Canadians thanks to inflation raising prices of goods and services. BC is also home to some of the highest real estate costs in the entire country.
Before the minimum wage increase announcement, BC already had the highest minimum wage in Canada out of all the provinces (not territories).
BC Labour Minister Harry Bains said that BC was the best place to live and that the province’s lowest-wage workers shouldn’t be forced to fall behind.
While the news is undoubtedly an excellent development for minimum-wage employees in BC, it’s still far from a living wage in BC.
According to Living Wage for Families, the living wage in Metro Vancouver is $24.08 per hour.
“The living wage is the hourly amount that each of two working parents with two young children must earn to meet their basic expenses (including rent, child care, food, and transportation) once government taxes, credits, deductions, and subsidies are taken into account. It does not include debt repayment or savings for future plans,” reads a statement from Living Wage for Families.
The increase matches the province’s average inflation rate in 2022, and while that would be an increase of $1.08 per hour, it’s been rounded to the nearest nickel to $1.10.
We’ve contacted the Retail Council of BC for its thoughts on the announcement.
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