ALBERTA’S MINIMUM WAGE

On Thursday, Premier Rachel Notley’s NDP government took the first step toward keeping its election pledge to raise Alberta’s minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2018. The Herald’s Doug Hintz shares five things to know about the $ 1 increase, the history of t

LOW AND HIGHS

On Wednesday, Alberta had the lowest minimum wage in the country, tied with Saskatchewan at $ 10.20 an hour ($ 9.20 for liquor servers). Thursday’s $ 1 increase to $ 11.20 ($ 10.20 for liquor servers) gives the province the thirdhighest rate among the country’s 13 provinces and territories, behind the Northwest Territories ($ 12.50) and Ontario ($ 11.25).

DISPARITIES

When Alberta first introduced a minimum wage in 1936, the rate was higher for men than for women, and for urban workers versus their rural counterparts. Those disparities gave way to an equal minimum wage for all by 1974, when the minimum wage was $ 2 per hour. The wage first hit $ 1 an hour in 1966.

LESS THAN 2% OF WORKERS

In 2014, Alberta had by far the fewest employees paid at the minimum wage rate, at less than two per cent of the workforce. Ontario had the most, at nearly 11 per cent of its workforce. Of the Canadian workers earning minimum wage, 49 per cent were in the 15- to 19- year- old age group.

UNCHANGED FOR 40 YEARS

In comparison to average earnings in Alberta, the minimum wage has remained largely unchanged in the past 40 years. When adjusted for inflation, the rate peaked at $ 1 1 an hour in 1976, when average earnings were an inflation- adjusted $ 24. In August of this year, just before the minimum wage hike to $ 11.20, the average hourly wage in Alberta was $ 29.16.

WHAT’S AHEAD

The NDP government has pledged to eliminate the gap for liquor servers by 2016, and hike the rate to $ 15 per hour by 2018. An Alberta Chambers of Commerce survey of 1,430 businesses found 70 per cent planned to either raise prices or cut staff if the minimum wage was increased.