The minimum wage is going up in Saskatchewan but at 20 cents more an hour, the hike isn’t nearly as large as labour groups had hoped.
The government says the minimum wage will increase to $10.20 an hour on Oct. 1.
Saskatchewan is also introducing an annual indexation formula, which will be based on the consumer price index and the average hourly wage for the previous year.
A change in the minimum wage will be announced on or before June 30 of each year, and increases will take effect on Oct. 1 of the same year.
“Increasing the minimum wage will give minimum wage earners more disposable income and improve their standard of living,” Labour Minister Don Morgan said in a news release Monday.
“Indexation of the minimum wage will provide security for minimum wage earners and ensure predictability for business owners in the province.”
However, the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour says the minimum wage should be annually indexed to 75 per cent of the average industrial wage, which would currently bump it up to $18.11 an hour.
“We think that that’s a good long-term goal for the government to try and phase in,” federation president Larry Hubich told CTV News.
“As a short-term strategy, we think the minimum wage should be at least reflective of what the living wage is in our province.”
According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the “living wage” for a family of four in Regina is $16.46 an hour, or a combined income of $58,245. The latest statistics show 27 per cent of workers in the city earned less than that in 2012.
“It’s a matter of fairness,” Hubich said. “We’ve never had more money than we have in this province right now.”
