VICTORIA – BC has increased hourly minimum wage to $14.60, and the minimum wage rates for liquor servers, resident caretakers and live-in camp leaders are also increasing, effective Monday, June 1, 2020.
In 2018, to help make life more affordable for people, government committed to raising the minimum wage following a path of annual increases that are regular, measured and predictable.
Effective June 1:
* General minimum wage increases 5.4% to $14.60 per hour, an increase of $0.75 per hour.
* Liquor server minimum wage increases 9.8% to $13.95 per hour, an increase of $1.25 per hour.
* Resident caretaker minimum wage, per month, increases 5.4% to $876.35 for those who manage nine to 60 units (an increase of $35.12/unit), or $2,985.04 for 61 or more units.
* Live-in camp leader minimum wage, per day, increases 5.4% to $116.86.
These increases for low-wage workers are the third of four planned increases scheduled to take place on June 1 of each year since 2018. The increases are the result of recommendations from the independent Fair Wages Commission, established in 2017 to advise government on an approach to raising provincial minimum wages.
Establishing a pathway to a minimum wage of at least $15 per hour is a shared priority between government and the BC Green Party caucus and is part of the Confidence and Supply Agreement.
BC Federation of Labour president Laird Cronk welcomed the increase.
“This is great news for hundreds of thousands of British Columbians,” Cronk said, referring to the increase in the minimum hourly wage from $13.85 to $14.60, taking effect today. The BC minimum wage is scheduled to increase again to $15.20 in June 2021.
Increasing the minimum wage to $15 has long had broad support among British Columbians, he noted. And since the pandemic began, BC residents have a newfound appreciation for the value of the work minimum wage earners do. “We’ve relied on the lowest-paid workers to do some of our most essential work throughout this pandemic,” he said.
Cronk noted that minimum wage earners are disproportionately women, Indigenous workers, new immigrants, people of colour, people with disabilities and young workers. And he said that increasing the minimum wage is an important part of ensuring BC’s economic recovery works for everyone.
