N.W.T. minimum wage hike to affect 1,000 workers

The Northwest Territories government is raising the minimum wage this summer.

The people most affected by it are expected to be for child care providers as well as people working in retail, tourism and hospitality.

The minimum wage will go up to $12.50 an hour on June 1, a 25 per cent increase. With that change, the territory will go from having the lowest minimum wage in the country to the highest.

The N.W.T. Chamber of Commerce Mike Bradshaw says that increase will help a small but deserving category of workers.

“Last year, the N.W.T. had the highest increase in weekly wages in Northern Canada. And we already had amongst the highest weekly wages in the country. But we still have a number of people trapped at that lower income range of $10 to to $13 an hour. We have to do something to boost that,” said Mike Bradshaw the chamber's executive director.

Statistics Canada figures show around 1,000 people in the territory earn less than $13 an hour. Minimum wage has been $10 an hour since 2011.

“I’m not even sure babysitters make 10 an hour,” says Bradshaw. “For those who are in that $10, $11, $12 range, this is going to help. “Based on cost of living, we believe they deserve some help.”

Bradshaw and Mira Hall, a program manager at the Centre for Northern Families in Yellowknife, were part of the committee that recommended the increase.

Hall says the committee doesn't think the increase will force small business owners to raise their prices.

“We strongly felt that, at $12.50 an hour, most businesses were paying more than that anyway and this didn't stretch them beyond what was kind of normal and already happening,” she said.

Hall also hopes the increase will encourage people to work instead of drawing income support.

“If somebody is working full time under the labour regulations — working 40 hours a week, eight hours a day — you should be able to afford to live.  And if you're working a full time job at minimum wage and still able to qualify for income support, then the incentive to work wouldn't necessarily be there.”

The committee provided the government with three options.

Hall says one of the other options would have seen minimum wage changed to a living wage of almost $19 an hour. She said that may have been more difficult for small businesses to stomach.

“If you're running a coffee shop and all of a sudden your bare minimum wage cost is going to drastically increase, employers would be more likely to raise the cost of the goods they're selling to make up the difference.”

The committee will review the minimum wage again, in two years.