The minimum wage in BC increases today

Jun 1 2020, 4:59 pm

In what it said is a move to support BC’s lowest-paid workers, the provincial government announced that the general hourly minimum wage is increasing to $14.60, an hour, effective as of Monday, June 1.

The minimum wage rates for liquor servers, resident caretakers and live-in camp leaders is also increasing as well. As of today:

  • General minimum wage increases 5.4% to $14.60 per hour, an increase of 75 cents per hour;
  • Liquor server minimum wage increases 9.8% to $13.95 per hour, an increase of $1.25 per hour;
  • Resident caretaker minimum wage, per month, increases 5.4% to $876.35 for those who manage nine to 60 units (an increase of $35.12/unit), or $2,985.04 for 61 or more units;
  • Live-in camp leader minimum wage, per day, increases 5.4% to $116.86.

These increases for low-wage workers are the third of four planned increases scheduled to take place on June 1 of each year. The scheduled increases began in 2018, and are part of the government’s plan to reach a $15 minimum wage by 2021.

The province said these increases are the result of recommendations from the independent Fair Wages Commission, established in 2017 to advise government on an approach to raising provincial minimum wages.

Lat month, Provincial Labour Minister Harry Bains responded to the question of whether the government would consider deferring the scheduled wage increase to a later date, for small businesses that have been hit financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bains said this was not part of the plan.

“The lowest-paid workers in BC need help as well,” he said. “They need money in their pockets so that they will go and invest in the local businesses who are suffering right now and they’ll help the local businesses in their own communities.”

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