Minimum wage committee calls for 55-cent annual increases over next 3 years
Richard Woodbury | CBC News | Posted: December 4, 2018 8:01 PM | Last Updated: December 4, 2018
Labour Minister Labi Kousoulis will make a decision on the minimum wage in early January
Nova Scotia's minimum wage should be increased and the formula used to calculate it needs to be changed, says a new report by a group tasked with providing recommendations to the province's labour minister.
The Minimum Wage Review Committee is recommending annual increases of 55 cents over the next three years, which would bring the minimum wage from its current $11 an hour to $12.65 by 2021.
As of Oct. 1, Nova Scotia had the lowest minimum wage in the country, while Alberta had the highest at $15 an hour.
The way the minimum wage is calculated in Nova Scotia depends in part on what Statistics Canada deems the low-income cut off (LICO). That number is divided by 2,000, which is the number of hours someone working 40 hours per week works over 50 weeks.
The report, which was released Tuesday, says the average work week for Nova Scotia full-time employees is 37 hours, not 40, which means that some full-time employees aren't reaching the LICO.
"The committee believes LICO is still a rational approach to establishing a fair minimum wage for employees; however, it believes the calculations for setting the rate at LICO should properly reflect accurate data regarding an average work week," says the report.
The committee, which is made up of employee and employer representatives, is recommending a 55-cent hourly increase, with 25 cents of that going toward keeping up with inflation, and the remaining 30 cents for reaching LICO based on a 37-hour work week.
Of the four committee members, three recommended the 55-cent increases, while one recommended the increase be 43 cents per year over five years.
'A substantial increase'
Danny Cavanagh, one of the committee members and the president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, said a 55-cent increase would be significant.
"This is a substantial increase that minimum wage earners haven't seen for a long time in Nova Scotia," he said. "Essentially, it's a five per cent increase, which works out to be about 20 hours per week or $1,040 a year."
Cavanagh said while the proposed increase is a good first step, he thinks it should go to $15 an hour.
How many Nova Scotians earn minimum wage?
Between April 2016 and March 2017, 6.6 per cent of employees in Nova Scotia earned minimum wage, says the report, which notes that minimum wage earners work primarily in the retail, food and accommodation industries.
Labour Minister Labi Kousoulis will make a decision on the minimum wage in January.