$19.75: highest minimum wage rate announced

Already boasting the highest minimum wage rate across territories and provinces, Nunavut’s base pay will move even higher later this year.

The territory’s minimum pay rate will increase to $19.75 per hour effective September 1, 2025, according to the territorial government, maintaining the highest rate in all of Canada.

The change marks a 4% increase to the current minimum wage rate of $19.00 per hour, the government said.

Several provinces have already increased their base pay rates earlier this year, and more will follow suit come October.

New formula for minimum wage

Beginning this year, Nunavut’s minimum wage rate will be adjusted annually on September 1 using a formula based on the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Iqaluit and the percentage change in the average hourly wage in Nunavut for the previous year.

“Nunavut will have a system in place to ensure our minimum wage is more responsive to the rising cost of living and economic realities of the territory,” said Minister of Justice Pamela Hakongak Gross. “This new approach is a positive development for employers and employees in Nunavut, helping to ensure fairness, transparency, and predictability around our minimum wage rate increases.”

Going forward, the adjusted minimum wage rate will be announced publicly by July 31 each year and published in the Nunavut Gazette, according to the territorial government.

However, the annual adjustment formula will not be used to decrease the minimum wage rate.

“If the formula adjustment would lower the minimum wage rate in a particular year, the adjusted rate will not take effect and the existing minimum wage rate will remain until the next increase,” said the Nunavut government.

The last increase to Nunavut’s minimum wage was on January 1, 2024, when it was raised from $16.00 to $19.00 per hour.

Here are the hourly minimum wage rates across the federal and provincial and territorial governments as of July 10, 2025:

In a LinkedIn post, Carla Vinciullo, director of boutique commercial law firm Kennedy Vinciullo, noted that “underpaying an employee can result in penalties for both an employer, directors or other officers (including payroll and external HR consultants).”

However, changes in minimum wage rates “can be a useful time to review employment contracts across your team, ensure your payroll software is fit for purpose and update employee records before the end of the financial year,” she said.

One in three Canadian companies say mandatory minimum wage hikes result in increased salaries/wages across the entire company – not just for minimum wage workers, found a 2024 survey.