MINIMUM-WAGE WORKERS WILL RECEIVE A RAISE

British Columbia’s minimum wage is scheduled to receive a relatively substantial increase this Friday (June 1).

Just in time for the weekend, the province’s lowest-paid wage earners will see their pay rate rise $1.30, from $11.35 an hour to $12.65.

The move was announced by the NDP government last February as part of a plan to raise B.C.’S minimum wage to $15 an hour.

A $15 minimum wage by 2021 was a promise that the NDP included in its platform for the 2017 provincial election. But after the party took power last July, it scrapped the time line it had set for itself and instead convened a Fair Wages Commission to study the issue and make recommendations on the best path to $15.

The bump that minimum-wage earners will receive this Friday is part of the commission’s plan. It will see B.C. reach a $15 minimum wage by 2021 after all. In June 2019, B.C.’S minimum wage will rise another $1.20, taking it to $13.85. Then in June 2020, the minimum wage will increase 75 cents, to $14.60.

Finally, in June 2021, it will receive an increase of 60 cents, bringing B.C.’S minimum wage to $15.20 an hour.

Last month, the Straight reported on an analysis by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) that states that residents of Metro Vancouver need to make $20.91 an hour to just get by raising a family in 2018.

That’s the amount the group described as a “living wage”, defined as “the hourly wage that two working parents with two young children must earn to meet their basic expenses”.

Elsewhere in B.C., CCPA calculated that in 2018, the living wage in Powell River is $17.15, in Prince George and Quesnel it’s $16.51, and in the Fraser Valley it is $17.40.

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