Another increase in the province’s minimum wage is coming at the end of the month. On Saturday, October 1, the minimum wage will increase by 50 cents to $13.70 an hour. The province will see another increase on April 1 and again next fall, bringing the minimum wage to $15 an hour by October 2023. The NL Employers’ Council says the minimum wage is a “misunderstood policy” and a difficult issue to discuss publicly. Executive Director Jaclyn Sullivan says the minimum wage was never meant to be a living wage and you can’t look at the issue in isolation. “It’s not what the average weekly wage is in the NL—which is actually among the highest in the country,” says Sullivan. While it’s important to have the minimum wage adjusted for inflation, “we don’t do that here,” he says. Instead, Sullivan says, it’s rising to what she calls a political, arbitrary standard. He says it creates a disadvantage for some businesses, especially those that are marginal. What’s missing from the conversation, Sullivan says, is that paying the minimum wage is a choice that some businesses make. For many businesses, it’s not an option and if they could pay more, they would. He says raising the minimum wage is about striking the right balance.
