Nova Scotia Will Reevaluate How Minimum Wage Increases Are Calculated
HALIFAX — The Nova Scotia government says it will reevaluate how it calculates minimum wage increases in the province.
The decision comes in response to a recommendation from the Nova Scotia Minimum Wage Review Committee, an arms-length body that each year reviews the province’s minimum wage increases.
In January, the committee released its annual report, which advised the government to raise the minimum wage in the province by 40 cents, to $12.95 an hour (the government accepted that recommendation. Minimum wage in Nova Scotia is scheduled go up April 1).
However, along with hiking minimum wage, the committee also called on the province to take another look at how it calculates minimum wage adjustments.
Right now, Nova Scotia’s minimum wage increases are calculated using a 2018 formula that ties those increases to the Consumer Price Index.
Some members of the committee say that formula isn’t raising the wage fast enough.
Wes Surrett is the general manager at the Pictou Lodge Beachfront Resort and a member of the committee. He spoke to Huddle in January, shortly after the committee released its recommendation.
Surrett, who commented as an individual and not on behalf of the committee, said there was a “common desire” to make Nova Scotia’s minimum wage more competitive.
He said a higher minimum wage would make it easier for businesses to attract and retain workers. He and other committee members also told Huddle higher minimum wages would provide a much-needed boost to minimum wage earners.
“And I’m not sure the current formula is going to get the minimum wage at a high enough level quick enough that it’s going to be acceptable,” Surret said.
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Surrett also said business owners want minimum wage increases to be more predictable.
Last year, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the provincial government surprised many by hiking the province’s minimum wage by $1 an hour — far higher than the committee recommended.
Surrett said that increase came as a huge shock to the business community. He argued that most businesses (especially small businesses) are okay with bigger minimum wage increases as long as they don’t come as a surprise.
“I think most employers would agree that as long as it’s predictable you’re able to absorb those costs into your operations. I don’t think anybody’s going to fight a minimum wage of $15, or whatever it may be. It just needs to be predictable so businesses can plan around it,” he said.
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Late last week, the government accepted the Minimum Wage Review Committee’s second recommendation. It will begin reevaluating its “approach to setting the minimum wage rate… in the coming months.”
“The minimum wage rate affects the lives of many workers and businesses across our province,” Lena Metlege Diab, the province’s Minister of Labour and Advanced Education, said in a news release. “I look forward to this review on what is an important issue for Nova Scotians.”
Speaking to Huddle In January, Danny Cavanaugh, the president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour and a member of the committee, didn’t say how he’d like to see minimum wage calculated in Nova Scotia.
The government will have the best idea of what to do after it conducts a review, he said, but it is important that review happens.
Trevor Nichols is a staff writer with Huddle in Halifax. Send him an e-mail with your story suggestions: [email protected].