By Tyler Marr

Reaction mixed as minimum wage up 10 cents in Saskatchewan

Oct 2, 2018 | 12:00 PM

The minimum wage in Saskatchewan has ticked up 10 cents to $11.06 an hour — six cents above the lowest rate in the nation held by Nova Scotia.

The increase on Oct. 1 was the tenth since 2007 when the provincial minimum wage was $7.95. The government introduced an indexation formula for calculating the wage in 2010 that gives equal weight to changes to the Consumer Price Index and Average Hourly Wage for Saskatchewan.

“We have been able to provide predictable annual minimum wage increases, allowing employers and employees to prepare and plan for change,” Labour Relations and Workplace Safety Minister Don Morgan said in a media release.

President of the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce Terry Caldwell said most business owners he spoke to in the area were unaffected as they already pay more than the minimum wage. He said most owners view minimum wage jobs as stepping stones to better work and are quick to pay employees they find valuable higher wages.

But what businesses owners don’t want to see, he said, is a large jump in the minimum wage. He pointed out how many industries have caps on labour and when forced to dish out more for wages, have to start cutting the hours of all employees to make up for it.

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“People don’t mind paying wages that keep up to inflation, but anything over and above that becomes an issue for business,” he said.

There are approximately 49,500 minimum wage and low-wage earners in the province. Of that group, 57 per cent work part-time, according to the province.

Ryan Meili, the leader of the provincial New Democrats, said the extra dime an hour “just doesn’t cut it,” in a news release Monday.

He argues a higher minimum wage improves health outcomes, decreasing public costs for social supports, and improves the economy through increased spending.

“No one should be working full time and still working in poverty,” he said, committing to raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour if elected.

According to Statistics Canada, over one million people earn minimum wage across the country. Half of them were either student aged 15 to 24 or non-students the same age living with their parents. Over 15 per cent of minimum wage workers in 2017 were under 65 and unattached individuals, lone parents or spouses/partners in single-earner couples, according to the national statistics agency.

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr

by Tyler Marr

Reaction mixed as minimum wage up 10 cents in Saskatchewan

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