B.C.'s minimum wage is going up on June 1

B.C. will be increasing its minimum wage on June 1, the province announced Monday.

The general minimum wage will rise from $16.75 an hour to $17.40, which is an increase of 3.9 per cent, the province's Ministry of Labour said.

The wage bump comes as the province announced changes to Bill 2, which will tie all future minimum wage increases to the previous year's inflation rate. The province said minimum-wage earners "will be able to count on increases every year."

"B.C. has gone from having one of the lowest minimum wages in the country to the highest of all the provinces. We made a commitment to tie minimum-wage increases to the rate of inflation to prevent B.C.’s lowest-paid workers from falling behind," Minister of Labour Harry Bains said in a statement Monday. "And today, we are enshrining that commitment into law."

The province said alternate minimum wages earned by live-in caretakers, home-support workers and camp leaders will also rise by 3.9 per cent on June 1. The piece rates for those who hand-harvest any of 15 specific crops will also go up by that same percentage as of Dec. 31.

In the years ahead, most wage increases will happen on June 1, except for the agricultural piece rates so crop producers won't have to change wages in the middle of harvesting season.

B.C. last increased its minimum wage on June 1, 2023, when it went up to $16.75 from $15.65.