Minimum wages change in four jurisdictions April 1

Wages going up in N.B., N.S., P.E.I and the Yukon

Minimum wages New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Yukon are increasing April 1.

New Brunswick

The general minimum wage rate in New Brunswick will increase from $9.50 per hour to $10 on April 1, 2012. The minimum rate for employees whose hours of work per week are unverifiable and who are not strictly employed on a commission basis will rise from $418 per week to $440 on April 1, 2012.

The minimum wage changes were originally slated for Sept. 1, 2011, but the government delayed the increases to give small- and medium-sized businesses more time to adjust.

Nova Scotia

The minimum wage in Nova Scotia will rise to $10.15, a 1.5 per cent increase from the present rate of $10 per hour. The minimum wage for an inexperienced worker, with less than three months’ experience in the work for which they were hired, has also risen from $9.50 to $9.65. The increase to $10.15 is based on the low income cut-off adjusted for inflation.

Future increases to the Nova Scotia rate will occur annually in April based on increases to the national consumer price index for the previous year, said the government. Fixing the rate to the consumer price index was a recommendation from the Minimum Wage Review Committee.

The committee had previously recommended a schedule of increases that would bring the rate back in line with the low income cut-off, a figure set by Statistics Canada where people are devoting a significantly larger than average percentage of their income to the basic necessities of food, shelter and clothing. The rate was last set in October 2011, at slightly above the low income cut-off.

Prince Edward Island

The minimum wage rate in Prince Edward Island will increase from $9.60 per hour to $10 on April 1.

Yukon

The territory adjusts its minimum wage every April 1 based on the consumer price index. Effective April 1, the minimum wage rate for Yukon will increase from $9 to $9.27 per hour.

The minimum wage in Yukon is adjusted to reflect the previous calendar years’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) every year on April 1. The increase for the year ending 2011 is three per cent, according to the Yukon government.

The province has also released its Fair Wage Schedule Category Rate Changes chart, which includes rates for specific occupations such as boilermaker, electrician, float driver and mortar person.

The schedule is in effect April 1 and is available online at:

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