Mandryk: Saskatchewan's low minimum wage is a long-standing constant
Murray Mandryk
OPINION
REGINA LEADER POST
JUNE 9,2021
The Saskatchewan Party government announced on Friday a plan to increase what is close to the lowest minimum wage in Canada.
The Saskatchewan Party government announced on Friday a plan to increase what is close to the lowest minimum wage in Canada.
© Provided by Leader Post Fear of job losses remains one of the government's argument against more substantial increases to Saskatchewan's minimum wage.
It held another news event that same day singing the praises of Saskatchewan’s nation-leading May job numbers in the monthly Statistics Canada labour force survey.
So you might ask: If we are creating jobs, doesn’t that mean we might be able to afford to look at a higher minimum wage?
You’d think that would the case, but job politics in Saskatchewan gets complicated rather quickly — especially given that having to have a low minimum wage here is something that’s almost ingrained in our psyche.
Friday, Labour Relations and Workplace Safety Minister Don Morgan announced a meagre 36-cent-an-hour increase to $11.81 an hour (effective, Oct. 1) from the current $11.45/hour minimum pay.
By the fall, only New Brunswick will have a lower minimum wage. At that point, Saskatchewan minimum wage earners will finally surpass Manitoba’s minimum wage circa 2019, the minimum wage level of P.E.I., Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia in 2018, B.C.’s and Quebec’s minimum wage of 2017 and Ontario and Alberta’s minimum wage of 2016.
Morgan explained the paltry annual inflationary increase was more appropriate than ever because it is “supporting both businesses and workers as we move into recovery after the pandemic.”
Clearly, this government has no interest in departing from this formula that’s produced 13 similar minimal annual increases since the Sask. Party took over from the NDP in 2007 when the minimum wage was just $7.95 an hour.
Critics on the left, now demanding a $15-an-hour minimum wage, were quick to condemn the government for ignoring the plight of minimum wage workers who’ve risked their health during the COVID-19 pandemic while working in the frontlines in retail, food services and hospitality industries.
However, it’s worth noting some of these same critics also argued restaurants and bars and places of commerce should have faced more restrictions and shutdowns during the pandemic that might have left even more such workers out of a job. Today, they have less to say about the Sask. Party government strategy that does seem to have produced a better employment outcome than elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Trade and Investment Minister Jeremy Harrison boasted Friday of having the lowest unemployment rate in Canada. He also noted Saskatchewan was one of the few provinces that actually created jobs from April until May — not as great an accomplishment as the minister’s spin would suggest.
A 4,100-job increase in the month when construction season starts, farmers are seeding and university students are landing summer jobs is more seasonal than spectacular. Moreover, Saskatchewan having the lowest unemployment rate (6.3 per cent in May) in the country is part of a long-standing conscious effort tied to having the lowest minimum wage.
There are valid reasons for the pushback by labour and the left, but our low minimum wage is nothing new. It has always been that way — or at least since the Allan Blakeney NDP administration in the 1970s. But the argument has always been that we are an agrarian-based economy where residents have traditionally enjoyed lower housing costs and utility rates.
Even when times got better here, the approach to the minimum wage didn’t much change.
According to Statistics Canada, in the 20-year span between 1998 and 2018 — years of acknowledged growth and prosperity here in Saskatchewan — the rate of workers earning minimum wage in Canada increased to 10.4 per cent from 5.2 per cent with urban workers surpassing rural workers because of the growth in retail jobs.
But the real argument in Saskatchewan for keeping the minimum wage low has always been the fear of businesses shutting down and an increased exodus to Alberta and B.C. (although no one ever leaves here for just a better minimum wage).
We didn’t see big increases to the minimum wage a decade ago when jobs were plentiful. Don’t expect to see things change now that times are less certain.
But do expect more days when government argues jobs numbers are great, but the minimum wage must remain low.
Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
It held another news event that same day singing the praises of Saskatchewan’s nation-leading May job numbers in the monthly Statistics Canada labour force survey.
So you might ask: If we are creating jobs, doesn’t that mean we might be able to afford to look at a higher minimum wage?
You’d think that would the case, but job politics in Saskatchewan gets complicated rather quickly — especially given that having to have a low minimum wage here is something that’s almost ingrained in our psyche.
Friday, Labour Relations and Workplace Safety Minister Don Morgan announced a meagre 36-cent-an-hour increase to $11.81 an hour (effective, Oct. 1) from the current $11.45/hour minimum pay.
By the fall, only New Brunswick will have a lower minimum wage. At that point, Saskatchewan minimum wage earners will finally surpass Manitoba’s minimum wage circa 2019, the minimum wage level of P.E.I., Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia in 2018, B.C.’s and Quebec’s minimum wage of 2017 and Ontario and Alberta’s minimum wage of 2016.
Morgan explained the paltry annual inflationary increase was more appropriate than ever because it is “supporting both businesses and workers as we move into recovery after the pandemic.”
Clearly, this government has no interest in departing from this formula that’s produced 13 similar minimal annual increases since the Sask. Party took over from the NDP in 2007 when the minimum wage was just $7.95 an hour.
Critics on the left, now demanding a $15-an-hour minimum wage, were quick to condemn the government for ignoring the plight of minimum wage workers who’ve risked their health during the COVID-19 pandemic while working in the frontlines in retail, food services and hospitality industries.
However, it’s worth noting some of these same critics also argued restaurants and bars and places of commerce should have faced more restrictions and shutdowns during the pandemic that might have left even more such workers out of a job. Today, they have less to say about the Sask. Party government strategy that does seem to have produced a better employment outcome than elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Trade and Investment Minister Jeremy Harrison boasted Friday of having the lowest unemployment rate in Canada. He also noted Saskatchewan was one of the few provinces that actually created jobs from April until May — not as great an accomplishment as the minister’s spin would suggest.
A 4,100-job increase in the month when construction season starts, farmers are seeding and university students are landing summer jobs is more seasonal than spectacular. Moreover, Saskatchewan having the lowest unemployment rate (6.3 per cent in May) in the country is part of a long-standing conscious effort tied to having the lowest minimum wage.
There are valid reasons for the pushback by labour and the left, but our low minimum wage is nothing new. It has always been that way — or at least since the Allan Blakeney NDP administration in the 1970s. But the argument has always been that we are an agrarian-based economy where residents have traditionally enjoyed lower housing costs and utility rates.
Even when times got better here, the approach to the minimum wage didn’t much change.
According to Statistics Canada, in the 20-year span between 1998 and 2018 — years of acknowledged growth and prosperity here in Saskatchewan — the rate of workers earning minimum wage in Canada increased to 10.4 per cent from 5.2 per cent with urban workers surpassing rural workers because of the growth in retail jobs.
But the real argument in Saskatchewan for keeping the minimum wage low has always been the fear of businesses shutting down and an increased exodus to Alberta and B.C. (although no one ever leaves here for just a better minimum wage).
We didn’t see big increases to the minimum wage a decade ago when jobs were plentiful. Don’t expect to see things change now that times are less certain.
But do expect more days when government argues jobs numbers are great, but the minimum wage must remain low.
Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
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