Follows increases this year in B.C., Nova Scotia and P.E.I.
The minimum wage in Saskatchewan will increase to $11.45 per hour on Oct. 1, up from the current $11.32 per hour wage implemented in October 2019.
This year’s increase will mark the 12th time that the province is increasing its minimum wage since 2007, according to the government.
“We have established sustainable and predictable minimum wage increases,” says Don Morgan, minister of labour relations and workplace safety. “This helps families plan ahead and creates an environment for new workers to enter the workforce.”
Saskatchewan’s minimum wage is calculated using an indexation formula, which means the rate is calculated using changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and the average hourly wage in the province for the previous year.
“This approach helps provide security for minimum wage earners and ensure predictability for business owners in the province,” says the government.
Recently, the province expanded the Saskatchewan Temporary Wage Supplement Program to include anyone, regardless of income level, who is working at licensed public or private long-term care facilities, which are under public health orders restricting visitations.
Workers at assisted living facilities which also are under public health orders, were also made eligible for the wage supplement if they earned a wage less than $24.00 per hour in the four-week period for which the worker has applied for the supplement. To be eligible, workers must have total earnings of less than $2,500 (gross), including earnings from work outside an eligible essential care facility, in the four-week period for which the worker has applied for the supplement.
The minimum wage in British Columbia also just increased to $14.60 per hour, up by 5.4 per cent or $0.75, on June 1 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
And in April, Nova Scotia’s minimum wage climbed to $12.55 per hour, up by $1 from the minimum wage in 2019, while in P.E.I. it increased from $12.25 to $12.85 per hour, continuing a yearly trend that started in 2000.
