Ontario’s lowest income earners will see a slight bump in their pay cheques.
Effective today, the minimum wage has increased to $17.20 an hour, up 3.9% from the former rate of $16.55 an hour.
The wage hike was first announced back in March, in keeping with provincial inflation levels.
Government officials said a worker making the general minimum wage and working 40 hours per week will see an annual pay increase of up to $1,355. There were 935,600 workers earning at or below $17.20 per hour in 2023.
According to the Ontario Living Wage Network, the living wage for 2023 in southwestern Ontario was $18.65. Officials with the agency say a living wage reflects what people need to earn to cover the actual costs of living in their community, and draws on community-specific data to determine the expenses to a family with two working adults and two children.
