One day after Trent Wotherspoon, the Official Opposition's Finance Critic, announced an NDP plan to tax record profits in the oil and potash industries, the Sask Party government has begun a minimum-wage increase that will see $15 per hour in 2024.
Wotherspoon's plan would cancel the controversial PST expansion in this year's budget, as well as paying a dividend to every Saskatchewan resident.
Premier Scott Moe has said the province will not consider the NDP plan, saying it might scare off investors.
“World events continue to put upward pressure on the cost of living in Saskatchewan and across Canada,” Labour Relations and Workplace Safety Minister Don Morgan said. “Our government is committed to ensuring life is affordable for our low-income residents by increasing the minimum wage over the next three years. This commitment to affordability will support Saskatchewan workers, and ensure Saskatchewan is the best place to live, work, and raise a family.”
On October 1, 2022, the provincial minimum wage will increase from $11.81 to $13.00 per hour.
On October 1, 2023, minimum wage will increase to $14 per hour and on October 1, 2024, it will increase to $15 per hour.
This will represent a 27 per cent increase to the minimum wage by 2024.
The NDP has repeatedly called for minimum wage increases. The province's current $11.81 per hour rate is the lowest in the country.
The increases to minimum wage reflect a market adjustment, rather than using the province’s traditional indexation formula. The traditional indexation formula gives equal weight to changes to the Consumer Price Index and Average Hourly Wage for Saskatchewan. However, for this year as well as 2023 and 2024, the increase to minimum wage will reflect a move to more closely align worker salaries with changing market forces.
“As we continue to grow Saskatchewan, we want to attract quality investments and jobs so that all citizens can benefit. Making this change to the minimum wage is a step in that direction,” Morgan said.
In 2007 the minimum wage in the province was $7.95, and by 2024 there will have been a total increase to the rate of nearly 89 per cent.
