Jobs Minister Brenda Bailey and Labour Minister Harry Bains at the minimum-wage announcement (Image credit: Government of British Columbia).

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: There’s good cause for concern this time about minimum wage hike

Apr 11, 2023 | 4:31 AM

THE MINIMUM WAGE will go up again June 1 — the usual anniversary for such increases — and businesses are already crying the blues. But this time they have something to cry about.

In the past, complaints from the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce and just about every other business group about the minimum wage have been overblown.

Raising the minimum wage will affect the viability of businesses, they insist. Higher minimum wages will force big increases in the price of consumer goods, they say.

Countering those traditional arguments is the fact that raising the minimum wage contributes to a more stable workforce by reducing turnover. And there’s the simple fact that higher minimum wage makes life better for a large sector of the workforce.

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The arguments of the past against minimum wage increases have been largely based on false assumptions and have sounded rather hollow.

A large percentage of minimum wage employees are in their 20s and 30s working full time. The exception is the food service industry, where the youthful and the retired do make up a major part of the workforce.

In theory, the decision on the wage this year is based on logic — keeping up with inflation. In normal times, it makes sense, but these aren’t normal times.

As we know, inflation has gone out of whack; the minimum wage hike will be unusually high. Not the highest ever, but high enough to fuel inflation instead of respond to it.

One of the main causes of inflation is an increase in costs to businesses. One of the main causes of increased costs to businesses is rising labour rates.

The minimum wage will go up by 6.9 percent to $16.75 per hour. But 6.9 percent was the inflation rate in 2022; it’s been dropping since then, so the new increase doesn’t even reflect today’s reality.

All this newest minimum wage increase will do is give a new boost to inflation.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.