The Yukon’s lowest-paid workers can expect to see an $0.82-per-hour bump in their pay in the coming months.
The Yukon government announced in a press release on Jan. 29 that its minimum wage will go up to $17.59 per hour starting on April 1.
The increase from $16.77 is based on the 2023 consumer price index, commonly known as CPI, for Whitehorse, which is 4.9 per cent.
Tying minimum wage increases to inflation is a commitment in the 2021 confidence-and-supply agreement, often referred to as CASA, between the Yukon Liberal Party and the Yukon NDP caucuses.
By tying minimum wage to inflation and other social supports, the release suggests it aims to help “reduce poverty, increase affordability and address income equality” across the Yukon.
“Our government is committed to making life more affordable for Yukoners,” Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn said in the release.
“This minimum wage increase, alongside the many other actions by our government to make life more affordable across the territory, will help the Yukon’s lowest-paid workers make ends meet.”
Yukon NDP Leader Kate White is also quoted in the Yukon government release.
“I’m glad to see this CASA commitment is still making life more affordable for lower-income Yukoners,” she said.
“Tying the minimum wage to inflation was critically important when we made the commitment in 2021 and it’s more so in 2024. It’s crucial that we stay the course — Yukoners are telling us how hard it is to live when the cost of living outstrips the minimum wage and it’s on us to listen.”
The increase will bring the gross annual salary for a minimum-wage worker working 40 hours a week to more than $36,500, per the release.
The Yukon Bureau of Statistics crunched some numbers from the 2022 Yukon Employment and Skills survey for the Yukon government, according to Bonnie Venton Ross, who works in communications for the Community Services department.
According to that data, 629 of 23,481, or 2.7 per cent, of employed persons in the Yukon were making minimum wage in fall 2022.
The same survey data pins the overall average wage for Yukon workers in fall 2022 at $36.80 per hour, which is more than double the minimum wage.
The Yukon Party Caucus is continuing to call on the Yukon government to “stop increasing the cost of doing business.”
The caucus provided comment by email to the News in response to the government’s announcement about upping the minimum amount workers can be paid in the territory.
The email statement indicates the caucus keeps hearing from small businesses that are struggling with the “cost of doing business,” particularly in hospitality and tourism sectors.
The caucus claims the process, which the Yukon Party disagrees with, for establishing minimum wage is based on “backroom negotiations” between the Liberals and the NDP as part of CASA that allows for “no consultation” from businesses.
“Increases to the minimum wage can have negative unintended consequences, including resulting in layoffs or businesses canceling plans to hire more employees. Under previous governments, the non-political process allowed both the positive and negative consequences to be considered when changes to the minimum wage were contemplated,” reads the caucus’ statement.
The statement refers to a February 2022 letter from the Yukon Chamber of Commerce to then-premier Sandy Silver, who stepped down from the top job but is currently Finance minister. The letter cites a report done by a branch within the territorial government’s Finance department on an economic evaluation of proposed changes to the minimum wage.
The letter quotes the report, which reads: “The greatest defect with minimum wages is that they are poorly targeted towards poor households. Most minimum-wage earners aren’t poor (e.g., students and youths living with their parents), and many poor [people] don’t earn minimum wage.”
Each year, the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition calculates the wage that the two full-time working parents in its sample family would have to earn in order to afford a modest lifestyle for them and their two children.
According to the latest report, prepared by public policy researcher Kendall Hammond for the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition, the living wage for Whitehorse was $21.04 per hour in 2023, which is the highest amount on record.
READ MORE: Expenses of life in Whitehorse still on the rise: reports
The federal government raised the federal minimum wage to $16.65 an hour on April 1, 2023.
— With files from Jim Elliot
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com