'I find it impossible to keep somebody around for that wage': Subcontractor fears hike will bring competition

Calgary small business owner and subcontractor, Justin Ventela offers new employees a starting wage of $17 to $20 an hour, but has a hard time retaining workers. He says the minimum wage hike in Alberta, slated for later this year, will only make things harder for his business.

He says the increase will attract low-skilled, new workers to less physically demanding jobs that pay just a few dollars less. "Walmart is able to pay them maybe two or three dollars less, but they don't have to sweat. They don't have to come home dirty."

Ventela called into Checkup to share how the minimum wage increase in his province will make it more difficult to find and retain workers in his business.

Andrew Nichols: I want to hear from Justin Ventela in Calgary. Hi, Justin.

Justin Ventela: Hi, how's it going?

AN: I'm alright. So what do you think about this? Do you think that a higher minimum wage is the best way to help lower income workers?

JV: No, and I think Alberta would be a perfect example of that. I'm a small business owner myself. And I think for the better part of the last 20 years, Alberta has had the lowest minimum wage in all of Canada, yet we've also had the lowest amount of people working at that wage per capita and the highest median income across Canada. So one, it seems like the logic of raising the minimum wage affects the economy over as a whole, Alberta turns on its head and then two, for me, I'm a small business owner and because of the raise, we're sitting pretty close to $15 an hour in Alberta. So I used to start people off at $15 an hour. I now start them off at 17 to 20, depending on their age. And I find it impossible to keep somebody around for that wage because I'm competing with Walmart, which the physical labour required is far less. But with six months time, I'm able to pay people 22. Within a year, I'm able to pay them 25. They stick around for two years, the most I pay somebody is 35 an hour.

So it seems like you're giving an incentive for jobs that normally don't produce enough income. How much money does stocking shelves add to that company, where you should be increasing the person's skills, so they could live off the skills that they have? And it seems like in Alberta—in the last few years—we've seen companies that have been around for 30, 50, 60 years close their doors. And a lot of business owners are reorganizing and making decisions, but they're making the decision of "this is not in my best interest, I am better served being a wage earner than a wage provider." And so, yes, a lot of people are reorganizing, but it may shake out to be not that great for the people at the lower end of the stick that just need to get that first job, build some skills, go off of that. That's where I think the emphasis should be, in building skills for individuals where they don't have to rely on one employer their whole life.

AN: Justin, what's your business?

JV: I'm a subcontractor in entry-level homes and basements. I've only been able to hire people over 25 and who have done this for a few years. And anybody who's entering into it… it's just not interesting for them because Walmart is able to pay them maybe two or three dollars less, but they don't have to sweat. They don't have to come home dirty or whatnot, but in six months time, in a year's time, I could almost double their wage that they would get at Walmart. But the incentive isn't there and I feel like this is going to push a lot of lower skilled workers into lower skilled jobs. And there's going to be no way for them to better themselves. I mean, the reason why you are at low or minimum wage is because of the amount of skills you have. And anybody could increase that. That's what the government should be focusing on.

All comments have been edited and condensed. This online segment was prepared by Samraweet Yohannes.