Minimum wage of $15 has not increased since 2019
The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL), which represents 170,000 workers in the province, is urging the Alberta government to raise the minimum wage to $20 per hour, citing rising living costs and stagnant wages as key concerns for working Albertans.
Following Saskatchewan’s move to increase its minimum wage to $15.35 per hour, Alberta now has the lowest minimum wage in Canada at $15 per hour. The rate for students under 18 working fewer than 28 hours per week is even lower, at $13 per hour.
“Under the UCP, living standards are going backwards rapidly,” said Gil McGowan, president of the AFL. “As of today, Alberta’s minimum wage has been frozen for seven years — a badge of shame for a province where the cost of living has skyrocketed. It is time to raise the minimum wage to $20/hour for everyone and index it to inflation so that hard-working Albertans get what they deserve and never again fall so far behind their peers in other provinces.”
According to the AFL, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Alberta has increased by nearly 25 per cent since October 2018. Meanwhile, the minimum wage has remained at $15 per hour since June 2019.
Alberta’s wages are falling behind the rest of Canada, despite the province having the highest gross domestic product per worker. That is because the wage system in the province is designed to benefit employers, claims the Centre for Future Work.
Alberta 'low-wage jurisdiction': union
According to the AFL, it would take a $3.75 increase in the minimum wage—bringing it to $18.75 per hour—just to keep up with inflation.
The call comes as five provinces saw their minimum wage rates increase as of Oct. 1.
“Alberta has become a low-wage jurisdiction for far too many working families and individuals, and the high cost of living forces many of them to use food banks and juggle multiple jobs. These workers are unable to spend sufficient time with loved ones; they have a reduced enjoyment of life; and they suffer huge amounts of financial stress,” said McGowan. “That’s not the ‘Alberta Advantage’ that we believe in.”
Research from the Parkland Institute indicates that of the more than 200,000 minimum wage earners in Alberta, 60 per cent are women, 34 per cent are heads of their households, 41 per cent are parents, and 73 per cent are not teenagers.
Job losses with wage increases?
The AFL’s Worker Agenda includes raising the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation as a flagship policy. The group also pointed to economic research showing that increasing the minimum wage does not lead to job losses. When the previous NDP government raised the minimum wage from $10.20 in 2015 to $15 in 2018, the number of jobs for almost every age group increased.
“The UCP pretends to be a friend of the working class, but a genuine friend would offer a hand up, not seven years of straight zeros,” said McGowan. “We plan to soon launch a tour of Alberta in support of a minimum wage hike and other policy proposals from the Worker Agenda. The time has come for workers to fight back against this miserly and hostile UCP government.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith suggested that increasing the minimum wage may bring some negativity to the province.
“We’ve also got the highest youth unemployment rate and when the NDP increased the minimum wage from $10 to $15, we saw mass layoffs of young people and in particular in rural Alberta,” said Smith, according to a CTV News report.
“Until we can make some progress on reducing youth unemployment, we have to make sure that wage rate is not going to be a deterrent to them.”
Here are the current minimum wage rates across Canada:
