Did you know that BC, the home of the lowest minimum wage in Canada, just recently became the province with the longest minimum wage freeze in recent history? That is to say, since at least the mid-1960s when HRSDC data starts. BC’s minimum wage has now been stuck at $8 for nine years two months and still counting.
If you were curious, this dubious honor used to belong to Ontario where minimum wages were frozen at $6.85 for a full nine years and one month between Jan. 1, 1995 to Feb 1, 2004.
In the meantime, the cost of living in our province — as measured by the Consumer Price Index — increased by over 16%.
The Progressive Economics Forum » The problems with the textbook analysis of minimum wages // Jan 20, 2011 at 11:39 am
[...] been thinking a lot lately about the sorry state of the BC minimum wage, stuck at $8 after nine years two months and still counting. Yes, it will likely increase very soon, now that almost all leadership candidates on both sides [...]
gordon mulcaster // Jan 19, 2011 at 4:23 pm
gordon campbell is a liar,thief,incompetent,he needs to go now we need an election now clear the air.
Stephen Elliott-Buckley // Jan 19, 2011 at 4:16 pm
A sweet token bump to the minimum wage is designed to appease the conscience of BC Liberals who are at least mildly ashamed of this sad state.
Until I hear BC Liberal candidates speaking to the $18.17 living wage level in Vancouver, it’s all just spin, smoke and fluff.
Keith Reynolds // Jan 19, 2011 at 7:14 am
It now looks like all of the Liberal leadership contenders are calling for some kind of minimum wage increase. I wonder where they have been for the last nine years? It will be interesting to see how much credit they claim for doing too little too late.
Jaimie McEvoy // Jan 19, 2011 at 3:05 pm
Several of the Liberal leadership contenders have called for an increase, but there’s also the issue of indexing and annual increases. The current method is bad for individuals, and bad for small business, most of whom pay above a minimum wage that is essentially a subsidy for a handful of their large multinational competitors.