Canadians support minimum wage hike to $15

A new public opinion survey shows a healthy majority of Canadians support an increase in minimum wage.

The Forum Research poll conducted last week showed that 63 per cent of Canadian voters approve increasing the national wage to $15 an hour. Thirty-one per cent disapproved; six per cent didn’t know.

Include Morley Gunderson, economics professor emeritus and CIBC chair in youth employment at the University of Toronto, among the 31 per cent opposed. Such a large increase would very likely reduce the employment prospects of youths who are already having problems getting jobs, he said.

The most striking thing about the poll, to Forum president Lorne Bozinoff, is that “the wealthiest — who don’t need (an increased minimum wage) — object the most.”

“Youth are more likely to object, presumably, because they think their job prospects are those most threatened by a higher minimum wage,” Bozinoff added.

Indeed, several recent Canadian studies have shown that a 10 per cent increase in minimum wage resulted in a three to six per cent decrease in employment in young people, said Gunderson.

There is no easy solution to this, he said: It’s a trade-off that politicians and the general public make, recognizing that some people will have a higher wage and others will not have a job.

While this effect in unemployment is not seen overnight, he said, it happens over a period of time, he pointed out, noting large retailers are moving away from cash registers to self-checkouts, restaurants are shifting from servers to buffets, etc.

However, Gunderson cautioned that the evidence in the U.S. is more divided, with many studies finding that an increase in the minimum wage has little or no effect on employment.

Forum found that 76 per cent of individuals who earned less than $20,000 a year were in favour of the minimum wage hike. Voters who support the federal New Democrats were firmly in favour, 84 per cent to 11; Tory supporters were against, but less strenuously so (36 per cent in favour, 59 per cent against).

The minimum wage increase had more supporters than detractors in every region of the country; the most enthusiastic was Atlantic Canada, where 73 per cent were in favour, and the least supportive was Alberta (49 per cent in favour, 45 per cent against).

Thirty-five per cent of the youngest voters (ages 18 to 34) disapproved of the increase — the highest disapproval rate of any age group. Also disapproving of the increase were 36 per cent of those who earned between $100,000 and $250,000 a year. In every age and income bracket, however, the idea has majority support.