Revisiting the Minimum Wage in Atlantic Canada /

R E V I S I T I N G. T H E. M I N I M U M. W A G E. I N. A T L A N T I C. C A N A D A ATLANTIC INSTITUTE FOR MARKET STUDIES Policy Paper Revisiting the Minimum Wage in Atlantic Canada By Matthew Lau and Marco Navarro-Génie Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 2017 © 2 0 1 7. A T L A N T I C. I N S T I T U T E. F O R. M A R K E T. S T U D I E S 1 R E V I S I T I N G. T H E. M I N I M U M. W A G E. I N. A T L [...] In fact, 87.5% of Canadians earning © 2 0 1 7. A T L A N T I C. I N S T I T U T E. F O R. M A R K E T. S T U D I E S 12 R E V I S I T I N G. T H E. M I N I M U M. W A G E. I N. A T L A N T I C. C A N A D A minimum wage in 2012 lived in households above the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO), a widely used measure of relative poverty. [...] Indeed, only © 2 0 1 7. A T L A N T I C. I N S T I T U T E. F O R. M A R K E T. S T U D I E S 17 R E V I S I T I N G. T H E. M I N I M U M. W A G E. I N. A T L A N T I C. C A N A D A one in eight minimum wage earners in Canada lives in a household below the LICO. [...] PEI NB NS MB QC ON NL BC AB SK © 2 0 1 7. A T L A N T I C. I N S T I T U T E. F O R. M A R K E T. S T U D I E S 23 R E V I S I T I N G. T H E. M I N I M U M. W A G E. I N. A T L A N T I C. C A N A D A Comparing the minimum wage to the median employee wage across all provinces, it is evident that the minimum wage presents a much higher barrier to employment in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, a [...] Meanwhile, the likely effect of the minimum wage on employment in Newfoundland and Labrador is in the middle of the pack among the remaining seven provinces.50 As shown in Figure 4 above, the ratio of the minimum wage to the median employee wage is 0.60 in Prince Edward Island, 0.57 in New Brunswick, 0.55 in Nova Scotia, and 0.50 in Newfoundland and Labrador.