Min wage to get bumped twice in 2022
On Thursday, the New Brunswick government announced a plan to increase New Brunswick’s minimum wage by $2 over the course of 2022. The first raise of one dollar, from $11.75 to $12.75, will happen in April, about four months from now. Then six months after that, in October 2022, the minimum wage will go up by another dollar, to $13.75.
The move should knock New Brunswick out of its uncomfortable spot as the province with the lowest minimum wage in Canada, which labour minister Trevor Holder cited as a motivation for the move at the announcement Thursday. “We cannot be last in Atlantic Canada,” said Holder, citing the example of wage discrepancies between border towns like Amherst and Sackville.
“I’ll put it to you this way,” said Holder. “A hamburger costs pretty much the same in Sackville as it does in Amherst. And it costs about the same to produce it. My question is, why would anybody think that it’s appropriate that the person serving that hamburger in Sackville is compensated $2 less than the person over in Amherst? It’s just unacceptable. It’s time that we moved on and made sure that we weren’t leaving New Brunswickers behind.”
Currently, PEI plans to raise its minimum wage to $13.70 in April, when most provinces make their annual adjustments. That will leave PEI in the top position in the Maritimes until October, when the second raise in New Brunswick will put this province 5 cents higher, at $13.75.… Continue