LISTEN: How will minimum wage increases affect the restaurant industry in B.C.?

With ever-advancing technologies and artificial intelligence creeping into the workforce, job security for current and future generations has never been more worrying. CKNW’s Future of Work series focuses on how British Columbia’s job market is going to evolve and how to help workers get the best possible employment opportunities in the future.

B.C. has announced plans to raise its minimum wage to $15.20 by 2021, and to eliminate a special, lower minimum wage for people who serve liquor.

They’re big changes that have many in the restaurant industry on edge.

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“There are some uncertain times right now,” says president and CEO of B.C.’s Restaurant and Food Services Association, Ian Tosteson.

According to Tosteson, those minimum wage changes, along with a labour shortage leave the industry — and particularly smaller restaurants — facing tough times.

But not all hope is lost. He says restaurants will always take employees with the right disposition and the right attitude, no matter how hard the times.