Minimum wage just increased in Ontario

Ontario’s minimum wage is now set at $17.60 per hour, an increase of 40 cents.

The annualized wage increase of 2.4 per cent is based on the Ontario Consumer Price Index and will boost the paycheques of approximately 800,000 workers.

The province says the latest increase brings Ontario’s minimum wage to the second highest provincial rate in Canada.

The student minimum wage is also increasing to $16.60 per hour, while the minimum wage for employees who do paid work in their own homes – such as sewing clothes or answering the phone for a call centre – is going up to $19.35 per hour.

The province says about 36 per cent of workers making the new minimum wage or less are in retail, and 23 per cent are in accommodation and food services.

The minimum wage is also going up today in four other provinces: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.