http://www.vancouversun.com/business/minimum+wage+workers+falling+further+behind/2752317/story.html
Summary
In the past year, every province in Canada has had their minimum wage raised, all except the province of B.C. Nine years ago, B.C. used to have the highest minimum wage of any province when it was raised to $8 an hour while the elected Liberal government introduced the new training rate of $6 an hour. However, the eight-year freeze on minimum wage has resulted in B.C. having the lowest minimum wage in the country. On the other hand, Nova Scotia’s lowest-paid workers received a raise, and Ontario’s minimum wage was increased to $10.25, which is currently the highest minimum wage in the nation. Nova Scotia has now raised their regular minimum to $9.20 today and $9.60 in October, and has also raised its training minimum from $8.10 to $8.70.
Connection
Many may argue that in the perspective of the business, an increase in minimum wage would have a negative impact on the company. To compensate the rising cost of hiring new employees, employers may be forced to lay off several employees or cut back on their working hours. As the accountant, keeping track of payroll requires great responsibility because working hours as well as overtime hours have to be calculated. Based on the amount of taxable earnings and the employee's net claim code, the amount of income tax to be deducted can be found using a table. Businesses not only have to pay the employees a certain amount, but deductions that are taken from the employees, such as CPP, EI, RPP and health insurance, have to be correctly matched and remitted to the government.
Reflection
For a company, paying the employees is a major expense in the current recessive economy. With an increase in minimum wage, more of their profit will have to be used to pay the employees instead of increasing the profitability of the business. As a student working part-time, increasing minimum wage in B.C. sounds like a wonderful idea initially, but when we look deeper in the issue, this may not be the case. It is undeniable that people who are working a full-time job at $8/hour and have to support family are suffering from the low minimum wage and the increasing cost of living in B.C. However, if the minimum wage was increased, businesses will have to work harder to make a profit in the current economy, and as a result, they may increase the prices of their products to compensate for their increased payroll expenses with inflation.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I disagree with you, Gina. In my opinion i think people deserve more money than 8$/ hour. I think that it is not sufficient for survival and unjust that in this country some conpanies are forced to pay at least 10.25 for minimum wage while, living in BC it is possible to get 8$ an hour. BC was once had the highest minimum wage, and we are now the lowest. I can see that there are concequences to consider -laying people off, increase of prices. But there is is the possibility of lower prices because of the economy or competition.
ReplyDeleteWhile it's true that increasing wages cut into businesses' profit figure, money is not all that matters and companies should be willing to sacrifice some of that to ensure the livelihood of their employees. $8/hour in Vancouver is too low, especially considering our living expenses are among the highest in the country. It's not fair to expect people to survive on the same amount of money today as eight years ago despite inflation's effects on the economy. The training wage, I think, on the other hand, is okay as it is because teenagers and young adults who are just starting to work typically do not rely solely on those earnings to live because they are usually still dependents of their parents.
ReplyDelete