Increases To The Minimum Wage: It affects everyone - here's how to prepare now:
On June 1st, 2024 the minimum wage in British Columbia will raise from $16.75 to $17.40 per hour. This represents a 3.9% increase, consistent with B.C.’s average rate of inflation in 2023. Read the news release here.
You may be under the impression that if you are not currently paying minimum wage for any of the roles in your organization, that the upcoming increase in minimum wage doesn’t affect you. However, any employee working within a few levels above minimum wage could also be concerned about how their wage may be impacted if the most entry-level wage will now be within a hair’s breadth of their own. It’s therefore important to be prepared for those conversations when they come up.
See how industries in your province are affected by clicking this link and choosing your province:
This chart compares unemployment rates in each region of B.C. between December 2022 and 2023, (from WorkBC)
While many cities are experiencing record-high cost of living rates, increased minimum wage levels can often have mixed results:
- causing an increase in consumer-spending beyond “the bare basics” which helps bolster the economy (which in turn can help minimize higher inflation),
while simultaneously
- causing the cost of consumer goods to increase.
Increases in minimum wage may encourage a few more people into the workforce, but with increased costs at the grocery store and for utilities, combined with a critical housing shortage, jobseekers are driven to jump on opportunities that offer even slightly better payrates.
However it plays out in our specific employment markets, the provincial government has enacted these increases, and so it’s up to businesses and their staffing partners to manage the outcomes and try to minimize any negative impacts. To address the pressures on our customer’s bottom lines, ABL has implemented a number of recruitment and retention improvements over the last 2 years, and this allows us to be more streamlined with our costs and therefore with the rates we bill our client companies for our staffing services. Lets have a discussion about what that could mean for you and your business.
So how can businesses prepare their budgets, hiring managers, and existing staff for the affects of the increased minimum wage levels?
- REVISE your budget plans to accommodate upcoming* minimum wage increases.
- REVIEW which job descriptions will be affected by this year’s increases – both minimum wage jobs and those close to minimum wage.
- PARTNER with a staffing company like ABL who understands the challenges in retaining your employees who will no longer be making much more than minimum wage after the increase takes effect.
- PROACTIVELY EDUCATE your current employees and customers on how this minimum wage increase will affect them.
- REASSESS the impact that low unemployment rates in your province or region have on recruiting & retention plans with your staffing partner at regular intervals, particularly in light of this year’s minimum wage increases. The low unemployment rate directly impacts your company’s ability to attract and retain available and qualified workers.
Contact us if you have questions about how ABL Employment is helping its client companies manage the changes and challenges the increase in minimum wage presents to businesses we partner with.
Read more about regional and provincial unemployment rates
