Facts about minimum wage

There are misconceptions about the minimum wage that I’d like to clear up.

First, $10.50 an hour is shockingly low — especially here, considering the high cost of living. A raise of two dimes and a couple of pennies is woefully inadequate. It only covers inflation, which means it isn’t a raise in real terms at all.

Secondly, business groups often dismiss the importance of a minimum wage with an intentionally misleading notion that only teenagers who live at home earn minimum wage. In Saskatchewan, 44 per cent of minimum wage earners are over 25 years old. Many are between 18 and 25. The number of under-18 minimum wage earners is incredibly small.

In any event, who cares if they are under 18? A fair day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay, no matter one’s age.

Finally, a recent LeaderPost column misrepresented labour’s position. Inflation indexing is good policy — but only once the indexed wage is suitably high enough.

Indexing at a base of $10.50 or $10.72 guarantees poverty and that’s disgraceful. We support a minimum wage that is above the low-income cut-off (LICO) or 75 per cent of the average industrial wage — or a living wage rate.

Let’s get it to $15 per hour, and then talk. Larry Hubich, Regina Hubich is president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour.