Not Everyone Happy with Minimum Wage Boost
Prince George, B.C. – This September, the minimum wage in B.C. will be increased by 40 cents an hour to make it $10.85 an hour. A further increase of 40 cents is set for September of next year, bringing the wage to $11.25 an hour.
One organization says the boost is too much, while another says it’s not enough.
The planned increases will harm small business says the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). The CFIB BC says the increases will ” leave many small business owners with entry-level jobs scrambling to afford a significant increase in their payroll”.
“It’s disappointing to see the government so quickly abandon their own indexation policy that was meant to create certainty and depoliticize the process. Business owners with entry-level jobs were clearly expecting a more modest, predictable increase this fall according to the formula set by the provincial government just one year ago”, said Richard Truscott, CFIB Vice President, BC and Alberta.
“Many business owners, especially those in the service sector, operate in highly competitive markets and on razor-thin profit margins. They are not sitting on a mountain of money. Obviously, they will have to make a series of major operating adjustments, including cutting jobs and hours, in order to accommodate such a large jump in payroll costs”, stated Truscott.
The increase was accompanied by a commitment from the Clark government to reduce the small business tax by the next fiscal year.
The boost to the minimum wage means the Provincial Government is listening to the concerns of the BC Federation of Labour says President Irene Lanzinger, but the increase falls well short of what’s needed to bring workers above the poverty line. “A $10.85 per hour minimum wage leaves a full-time worker nearly $5500 below the poverty line. That is simply unacceptable” says Lanzinger.
The BC Federation of Labour has been campaigning for the government to put a plan in place to reach a $15 per hour minimum wage, a wage that would put a full-time worker above the poverty line.
“This is just one more missed opportunity for the Premier and the government to do what’s right” says Lanzinger
Comments
If the govt was really interested in putting more money in people’s pockets, a meaningful reduction in income tax would be the way to go. By doing this, we would ALL end up with a little “disposable” income with which to spend at businesses. I believe that if this were done, businesses would see more income and therefore be in a better position to increase wages.
Right now, a meager increase in the minimum wage will not amount to much for those earning it. Rent, food, utilities, school fees and transportation are all on the rise. If the employers have to reduce hours or cut positions in order to comply with the wage increase then how is that helping anyone? On the other end of this increase, if prices must rise to offset the wage increase then businesses may suffer in reduced sales.
I want to see everyone have more money in their pockets, but I dont believe that the govt is going about it very effectively.
We (the working stiffs) are constantly being forced to do more with less while the govt NEVER expects that from themselves. It is about time that the provincial and federal governments start giving some of our hard earned cash back to us so that WE can effectively stimulate the economy ourselves! I dont know about the rest of you, but there is a good many things that my family does without just so that we can pay the government their enormous tax and fee burden.
It would’ve been far more helpful to many small businesses if the government found a way to reduce their property tax burden rather than further cutting business income tax, which is already miniscule on the miniscule incomes many are able to generate. Property taxes are arbitrary, determined by some ‘assessed’ value that might have been realised if the property had been sold. They’re not tied directly to what the business has made in terms of income, or even realised in actual sales. Taxes on income or sales are ‘money taxes’ on ‘money’ that has changed hands. Taxes on property are ‘money taxes’ on some imagined ‘value’ in money if something might have happened. Big difference. One is justifiable, the other anything but fair.
“Hey look, here’s a shiny bauble. Just ignore all the fiasco’s and government corruption in the news and focus on this shiny bauble.”
I am lucky enough to have a good full time job that pays decent as well as a minimum wage part time job that is basically just play money, there is absolutely no way I would be able to survive if I only had a minimum wage full time job even when it finally does reach $11.25/hr.
The businesses in the service sector may operate in a highly competitive market, but they will all have to increase the wage so what’s the difference?
10.85 is still less than 8.50 US, and we all live according to the US dollar, so it’s still a starvation wage.
Business always say this. Our margins are razor thin. Really? Is that why it costs well over a million dollars just to get franchise rights, never mind the building, equipment etc. The margins are so thin but yet you’re willing to pay at least a million to get a franchise that makes such a little amount of money? Last time I looked, Walmart was getting along just fine too.
A person who works, is a better person in so many ways, and it’s to our advantage to make it worthwhile to work.
A working person is tired at the end of the day, and hasn’t got energy to party all night.
A working person has self respect, and less mental illness.
A working person contributes to the tax base.
A working person is healthier physically.
A working person’s family is also healthier physically and mentally.
And where is my evidence, go to any FN reserve where work is not required, and compare their quality of life to that of those who have jobs to go to every day.
Human’s need something to do, and work is as good a thing as any. So quit the whining, pay the extra wages, and pass it on to me the consumer.
What franchise is a million dollars? Last one we were part of was 50k fee and cost just over 200k to get set up in the mall, then you pay rent that was negotiated by the franchisee and are forced to buy from the franchise suppliers. Didn’t do a million in sales a year but close. Margins are what you have to look at and a good business plan. Made money but not rolling in it after wages and expenses and about 80 hours a week for the first year.
But I don’t think Walmart is a franchise
Lol, that is your proof… terrible – on many levels btw.
If a person was already making a living then a 40 cent an hr might mean something. Personally if I was the premier I would be embarrassed to announce this increase to an already starvation wage. I can understand paying a first time student living at home a lesser salary but it has become the norm to pay these wages to most all service outlets. Walmart,Can.Tire,Home depot, Save-on foods etc. These are the companies that need to step up step the plate and pay a living wage.
If you are depending on a minimum wage job as your primary source of income, you are going to struggle to pay bills every month. So why not look for a better paying job? There a lot of good paying labour jobs out there if you are willing to put in the effort to do that type of work. If you don’t like the pay at Walmart, go apply at a sawmill or go treeplanting. And if you can’t handle the workload then you don’t deserve to get paid. Easy as that.
LMAO @ ski51. Pass it on to the consumer? Are you willing to pay 15 dollars for a Big Mac combo next time you go to McDonalds?
You must have missed yesterday’s math lesson. Here it is again.
Chain industry publications say wages consume 33% of a fast food restaurant’s revenues. In terms of straight percentages, if minimum wage cost will go up 10%, so that number will go up to 36.3% of revenues. So for a $10.00 fast food meal the small business will have to increase the price by 33 cents to cover this wage hike. If that’s a deal breaker for most people, then expect to see a lot of Tim Horton’s closing the doors. Somehow I suspect most of us will be able to come up with the extra money.
What consumes the other 67% of a fast food restaurant’s revenues? A franchise may be profitable, but surely not THAT profitable? A great many of its other non-labor costs must be what we could call ‘overheads’, I would think. The cost of the building it owns or rents, utilities needed to cook the food, and heat or cool the premises, insurance, the ‘raw materials’ that go into the meal, interest on the money borrowed to start the business itself, and buy the capital equipment necessary.
And advertising, that has to be a major expense in itself. After all those costs are met, margins PER MEAL may conceivably indeed be ‘razor thin’, and its only the volume of meals served that allows for a profit. Now raising the minimum wage may not in itself affect the price of the meal to too great an extent. But what about all the other people involved in supplying all these ‘overheads’? Are they going to work for the same wage they were getting when minimum wage inches closer to it? Not hardly. They’re all going to want an increase, too. And when they get it, which they will, we all get to work with bigger figures. Who is advantaged? Has the wage earner’s actual PURCHASING POWER really increased? Will each unit of currency now buy him MORE? Or LESS?
this is an ongoing debate…
those needing the pay increase think it is good..
those who have to pay it think the world is coming to an end.
and the rest of us are going to pay for it one way or the other via increased fees or costs, thus increasing the need for higher wages…and on and on it goes..
And no,
I don’t have the answer
short of stopping all increases in salaries and fees and costs for everyone…
can’t see that happening either.the rich stay rich and the needy stay needy….
Yes pass it on to the consumer-everything else gets passed on to us now. The ones that are now making the min wage now are not able to buy the Big Mac combo so that is why we need to have a living wage.
How’s that going to advantage them then? It’s like a dog chasing its tail. Round and round it goes, what’s ever accomplished? Nothing whatsoever. Complete waste of time and energy. Why don’t those who genuinely want to abolish poverty ~ not the NDP, seems to me they simply want to represent it ~ recognise that MOST of the costs that flow through into prices in our modern world are NOT current labor costs, i.e., anyone’s current income.
They are allocated costs for things like DEPRECIATION, etc. Under the current rules and conventions of accounting, all of us as Consumers are charged in prices for sums representing Capital Depreciation. It’s how anyone who has invested in a business that owns tools and equipment and machinery, or any other fixed capital asset, (except land, which doesn’t change in recoded value from what was paid for it), gets their money back as those assets wear out or obsolesce. Otherwise anyone who invested would simply be throwing their money away, and never bother.
While this is all to the well and good so far as accounting is concerned, the accounting doesn’t go quite far enough. For each time there is an investment there is also Capital APPRECIATION. Most of that investment leads to greater EFFICIENCY in the production and delivery of actual goods and services. A basis of financial credit. The problem is that we are debited for the former, but never FULLY credited for the latter. Which is normally always greater. It’s not hard to correct that, which could be done in a way that would make the actual PURCHASING POWER every dollar received increase.
According to report on Global last night just under 60% of those earning minimum wage in BC are young people still living at home. Not many bills to pay at Mom and Dad’s so $11.25 is plenty.
Those that said they were head of household were in the 6% range and would have been interesting for them to drill down on this a bit further to see how many of that 6% work in places where tips can double or triple that wage. As for the remainder unless they have physical or mental challenges that keep them at minimum wage it is time for them to get their nose down and butt up and start digging to get ahead.
The remainder are spouses working while the kids are in school or supplementing the family income.
Global had a similar story a couple of weeks ago asking a customer of a small coffee shop how she would feel if the owner gave all employees a raise to $15 bucks but would have to raise the prices. Without batting an eye she said it was a great idea but would likely cut her visits from 3 or 4 times a week to 1 or 2. With a business model like that, less income and higher expenses how long before that coffee shop would be circling the drain.
sparrow—Why do you think the min wage earners are living with mom and dad? because they can’t afford a place of their own.
They live with M&D because they are young people still going to school and work at fast food joints or the mall after school and on weekends.
If they are still living there in the mid 20’s then it is because of a poor work ethic or outright laziness if they are still working for minimum. Like other posters have said there are better jobs out there if they are willing to put in the effort.
If a big box greeter is their dream job they should be aware they will not get rich anytime soon.
I would hope that the food Restaurants and others would keep the prices being raised by only 33 cents. I can’t see that happening. Greed steps in and $1.00 – 1.50 price increase would be tacked on. That 10.00 hamburger won’t be 10.30 or 10.50 it will be 11.00 to 11.50 ??
“Greed” has very little, if anything, to do with it. Most businesses, over time, have seen their profits TAKEN AS A PERCENTAGE OF THEIR SALES, actually FALL, not increase. They may sell more ‘in dollars’, and their profits reported may be larger ‘in dollars’, but they have to sell a LOT more every passing year to make a LITTLE more that year.
Eventually, even though they may still be profitable, they’re not profitable ENOUGH. Not profitable ENOUGH to continue to access the credit they need to continue operating.
You need only look at some of the giants that this has happened to, many of whom no longer even exist. MacMillan Bloedel, once Canada’s premier forest products company. Crown Zellerbach, BC Forest Products, Fletcher Challenge, Crestbrook, Tahsis Co., where are they now?
In retailing, Eaton’s of Canada, Woodwards, Simpson Sears, Zellers. Big Oil has seen its share of buyouts and mergers, and now some hive-offs, as companies try to survive and maintain ENOUGH profit to keep their bankers interested in them when they need money. It’s like that across the board, in all industries and endeavours.
$3.20 a day more in pay for their slaves is going to hurt them? Yeah wtf ever.
sparrow—-Are the 75000 TFWs that were brought into BC staying with M&D? Don’t think so. The employers in Whistler BC are saying we need to fix the TFWs program. What does that mean? I will tell you what it means. It means they are looking to the government to supply them with guaranteed cheap labor and not having to pay more than min. wage.
Don’t have the time or inclination to look at all tfws but I do know that Whistler was looking to fill positions such as qualified ski and snowboard instructers as there were plenty of open positions despite advertising nation wide. With tips these people make a big bucks.
As for the rest, why in your mind is it the fault of everyone EXCEPT the minimum wage worker for the position they are in? If they are too lazy to get off their butt and obtain the skillz required to increase their earning power it is nobody’s fault but their own. To some extent they are plugging up the system as if they were to move to a better job it would open a slot for someone looking to join the workforce at an entry level.
The costs for adult upgrading is minimal if they are willing to put in the time and effort. There are scholarships and bursaries at UNBC that very few people apply for so a little research and work can reduce tuition over a 4 year term.
Complete something like the nursing program and they would be all but assured of a job. Some of the dental programs at CNC are 2 years long, short term sacrfice for long term gain.
How is it right for McDonald’s or Walmart to acquire the services of ANY person for less than it costs to live? Someone else is subsidizing these giants whether it’s parents or taxpayers. I am not a patron of either.
Employers could never pay a high enough minimum wage to cover what it costs to live because as soon as the wage goes to that level *today* prices will rise to a higher level *tomorrow*, and all you’re doing is working with ever bigger figures. The answer, the only answer, is to increase the PURCHASING POWER of incomes received. That CAN’T be done so long as the ONLY source of incomes are from employment and have to be costed into prices. Or the business goes under. If you want to change that, you’re never going to succeed going the path you’re on.
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