Here's how much the minimum wage is set to increase in B.C.

The B.C. government is hiking the minimum wage to $16.75 an hour starting June 1, as a measure to help the province's lowest-paid workers with rising inflation.

Labour Minister Harry Bains announced Wednesday that it is rising from $15.65 an hour, which represents a 6.9-per-cent increase.

For someone working 40 hours a week, all year, that's a jump of about $2,200 annually.

"These workers and their families feel the impacts of high costs much more than anyone else," Bains said in a news release explaining the changes.

Yet business groups point out many small businesses are also feeling the impact of the pandemic, inflation, and rising taxes.

Annie Dormuth, director of provincial affairs (B.C.) for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, is urging the province to consider wage subsidies, raising the employer health tax exemption or rebating some of WorkSafeBC's surplus to employers. She also questioned why the province wasn't announcing supports at the same time they increased minimum wage.

"When the Manitoba government announced its increase to inflation they announced it with some sort of wage subsidy for businesses if they're really struggling to absorb that extra cost increase," explained Dormuth.

Asked about the timeline for possible supports, B.C. Minister of Jobs Brenda Bailey said she would be meeting with stakeholders and an announcement may be coming soon.

The province estimates the change will help 150,000 workers. Statistics Canada numbers from 2021 show 42 per cent of B.C.'s minimum wage workers are employed by corporations with 500 employees or more.

That's an issue for Sam Jones, who owns 2% Jazz, a coffee shop where the news conference took place. He says smaller businesses like his, who pay employees a fair wage, are at a disadvantage when competing with large companies, and believes a distinction should be made.

"One solution is to look at where they're coming from. Are they British Columbian companies or are they American companies that are paying the least amount they are legally allowed to?" Jones said.

Even with the minimum wage set to increase, advocates for a living wage – that is, paying people an amount required to live in their city – point out the minimum wage is $7 below what a living wage in B.C. should be.

Federally regulated workers saw their minimum wage rise to $16.65 on April 1.