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The first day of June means the minimum wage for most workers in B.C. is now $17.40 per hour, as the province’s annual inflation-based hike takes effect.
The new minimum wage is a 3.9-per-cent increase from the old minimum of $16.75 per hour, matching B.C.’s average rate of inflation in 2023.
Alternate minimum rates for residential caretakers, live-in home-support workers and camp leaders have also increased by 3.9 per cent, and the minimum piece rates for 15 hand-harvested crops will go up by the same percentage on Dec. 31.
“B.C. has gone from having one of the lowest minimum wages in the country to the highest of all the provinces,” said Harry Bains, B.C.’s minister of labour, in a statement reminding the public of the change earlier this week.
“We made a commitment to tie minimum-wage increases to the rate of inflation to prevent B.C.’s lowest-paid workers from falling behind.”
Future wage increases will automatically be determined by the previous year’s average inflation rate, and will take effect on June 1 each year – with the exception of the agricultural piece rates, which will take effect on Dec. 31 – according to the province.
Since 2015, B.C.’s minimum wage has risen by $6.95, growing with annual increases from $10.45 per hour up to the current rate.
Between 2001 and 2015, the minimum wage grew by just $2.45, from $8 to $10.45. There were no increases at all in 2002 through 2010, according to provincial data.