Raising minimum wage not enough for decent quality of life, critics say – NB Media Co-op
Audio report via CHMA 106.9 FM:
New Brunswick’s minimum wage increased by one dollar on Friday to $12.75 an hour. And another increase is scheduled for October, when the minimum wage hits $13.75.
In a video posted to social media this week, Labor Minister Trevor Holder acknowledged that “many New Brunswick families are struggling to cope with the cost of living, and it’s getting worse.”
Reminder! On April 1, the minimum wage will increase to $12.75 and in October it will increase to $13.75.
This is the largest increase in more than 40 years and will give New Brunswick the highest minimum wage in Atlantic Canada. https://t.co/FzEmJXFpZT pic.twitter.com/rI1FdIfSx7
— Government of NB (@Gov_NB) March 30, 2022
Until Friday, New Brunswick had the lowest minimum wage of any province or territory in Canada. Saskatchewan now holds this dubious distinction.
By October, New Brunswick is expected to have the highest minimum wage in the Atlantic region, compared to $13.70 per hour in Prince Edward Island, $13.35 in New -Scotland and $13.20 in Newfoundland and Labrador, depending on the Retail Council of Canada.
That’s a far cry from last year’s widely derided 5-cent increase based on changes to the consumer price index.
At the time, Minister Holder said in a statement the policy would protect “employee purchasing power” while ensuring “predictability for businesses”.
But this year’s biggest increase still falls short of what anti-poverty activists call a living wage.
This amount would be close to $20 an hour in New Brunswick cities, according to calculations by the Saint John Human Development Council.
A living wage measures “the amount a household should earn to cover their basic needs and live in dignity while enjoying a decent quality of life”, as defined by this group.
For reference: The Human Development Council’s most recent report on living wages in New Brunswick cities. https://t.co/koAyTKaS3Z Going through @SaintJohnHDC pic.twitter.com/sPe7F1xKLz
— David Gordon Koch (@davidgordonkoch) April 2, 2022
Louis-Philippe Gauthier, Senior Director of Atlantic Legislative Affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, called the minimum wage a “blunt instrument” for poverty reduction.
CFIB argued that many minimum wage earners are teenagers who live with their parents and do not depend on their wages to survive.
But data from the New Brunswick government indicates that 64 per cent of the roughly 45,000 people affected by increases this year are over the age of 19.
And more than half of those affected are women.
