Nova Scotia min. wage review committee recommends accelerating the move to $15.00 per hour

Last week, the Nova Scotia government informed stakeholders that it is considering a recommendation from the province’s Minimum Wage Review Committee to increase the province’s minimum wage to $15.00 per hour by October 1, 2023.

The government is also considering the Committee’s recommendation that as of April 1, 2024, future increases to the province’s minimum wage would be set by a new formula based on the change in the previous year’s inflation rate plus an additional 1%.

RCC is disappointed the government is even considering this recommendation given that between 2018 and 2024, the government has mandated nine special increases to the province’s minimum wage. These special increases go beyond the province’s previously legislated mandate of adjusting minimum wage by the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the previous year. Businesses have been basing their long-term wage planning on the government’s 2022 decision to mandate five special increases to the province’s base wage.

These special increases began on April 1, 2022, and were to occur each April 1st and October 1st, until such time as the wage reached $15.00 per hour on April 1, 2024.

At the time, the government also mandated that the setting of the new minimum wage formula of CPI plus 1% would begin on April 1, 2025. After laying out a difficult but predictable minimum wage framework for businesses, it is disaapointing the government would consider abandoning its multi-step increase plan before its completion. RCC will be presenting its concerns to Nova Scotia’s Minister of Labour.