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The minimum wage in New Brunswick / : Salaire minimum au Nouveau-Brunswick

6 May 2014

This is the result of the inadequate way in which the minimum wage is determined in the province. [...] Tying the minimum wage to changes in the consumer price index over the last two years and to changes in the average wage can justify an increase of $0.30/hour in the minimum wage. [...] Table 1 shows that by 2012, when the minimum wage was last increased, 11.1 percent of employees in New Brunswick worked for the minimum wage, the highest proportion in Canada.1 This fell to 7.9 percent in 2013, when no change in the minimum wage took place. [...] Because such large firms account for around 35-37 percent of total employment, minimum wage workers are actually disproportionately concentrated in large firms.2 2. The economics of changes in the minimum wage Some effects of changes in minimum wages have been extensively studied by economists, particularly the employment impacts on some minimum wage workers.3 However, the minimum wage affects the [...] First, by adjusting the money value of the minimum wage on an irregular basis with no direct connection to the cost of living, the real value of the minimum wage has been eroded by inflation for long periods.
economics economy inflation canada consumer price index employment labour minimum wage prices minimum wages real wages provinces cpi job economic inequality unemployed nominal real versus nominal value (economics)

Authors

Hill, Roderick

Pages
15
Published in
Ottawa, Ontario

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