B.C.’s minimum wage is set to rise by 6.9 per cent and members of the Okanagan’s business community are lining up to put in their two cents.
The minimum wage in B.C. will increase by $1.10 to $16.75 an hour effective June 1, Labour Minister Harry Bains said in an announcement Wednesday, adding that B.C. will have the highest minimum wage of all provinces.
“For a city like Penticton, the first thing we’ll see are those residents on fixed incomes, primarily our seniors, lose even more buying power as employers raise prices to compensate for higher labour costs,” Penticton Chamber president Nicole Clark said in a press release on Thursday.
“And the sectors where you’ll most likely see this occur include hospitality, food and beverage, and retail, including grocery stores.”
The chamber is also projecting that the minimum wage increases may result in cuts in hours for workers.
“With only two months’ notice from the provincial government before the increase takes effect, businesses will be reviewing their budgets to see where they can shed expenses,” Michael
Magnusson, the chamber’s executive director, said.
“The most controllable expense in business is labour, so whether you’re a small business owner or a manager in a large corporation, if you don’t want, or can’t, pass this added expense onto your customers, you instead reduce employee hours wherever you can, which essentially cancels out the increase.”
Penticton’s mayor and council just voted to raise the business tax multiplier to 2.22, which will cost the average Penticton commercial property owner another $617 in annual taxes. That, along with rising interest rates, the chamber said, will hurt.
The local comments echo other B.C. business organization responses.
Anita Huberman, president and CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade, said in a statement that it’s an unsustainable increase.
“Such a significant increase in the minimum wage should have been discussed last year with the business community, especially in the face of other unprecedented increases in taxes and fees from other levels of government,” Huberman said.
“It is imperative that the B.C. government focus on reducing costs to businesses by committing to convening a commission to review taxes and red tape impacting businesses.”
The province said the higher wage is expected to affect about 150,000 workers who currently earn less than $16.75 per hour. The province says 58 per cent of those are women, while 21 per cent are youth aged 15 to 19 who are still at school.
“It is unfair to expect the most vulnerable workers to give up some of their non-discretionary income because of record-high inflation,” Jim Stanford, director of the Centre for Future Work research institute, said in a news release.
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