B.C.’s minimum wage set to reach $15 an hour

British Columbia’s minimum wage goes up 60-cents an hour as of tomorrow (June 1).

The $15.20 an hour will make it the highest rate in Canada.

June 1 is also when the lower minimum wage for B.C. liquor servers comes to an end.

“About 80 per cent of liquor servers are women, and the low liquor wage is a clear example of the gender pay gap we are fighting to eliminate,” Grace Lore, Parliamentary Secretary of Gender Equity, said. “Most minimum wage earners are women, often racialized women and newcomers who face barriers to accessing better-paying jobs.’

As of June 1:

• The general minimum wage increases to $15.20 an hour from $14.60 an hour.
• Liquor server minimum wage of $13.95 an hour is being eliminated and replaced with the general minimum wage of $15.20 an hour.
• Live-in camp leader minimum wage, per day, increases to $121.65 from $116.86; and resident caretaker minimum wage, per month, increases to $912.28, plus $36.56 per suite for those who manage nine to 60 residential suites and to $3,107.42 for 61 or more suites.
  (Image credit: Retail Council of Canada)

Over the past four years, B.C.’s general minimum wage has increased from $11.35 to $15.20 per hour. The government says that has benefited close to 400,000 residents—the majority of whom are women, immigrants and youth.

“Raising the minimum wage will be life-changing for many British Columbians,” Erica Jones, grocery-sector worker, said. “Making it easier for people to pay their rent and other bills is a step in the right direction but only one tool in the kit to bring people out of poverty. People who make the minimum wage work as hard as anyone else.”

In 2020, six per cent of employees in B.C. (121,000) earned minimum wage or less, and 12 per cent of employees (244,900) earned less than $15.20 an hour.

Click here to find out what the minimum wages are across Canada.