B.C.'s lowest paid workers to get a pay boost

On June 1, 2021, B.C.'s lowest paid workers will get a pay boost, with the general minimum wage increasing to $15.20 an hour and the lower discriminatory minimum wage for liquor servers ending.

Over the past four years, B.C.'s general minimum wage has increased from $11.35 to $15.20 per hour. It has benefited close to 400,000 British Columbians over those years - the majority of whom are women, immigrants and youth.

"In 2017, our government made a commitment to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by June 2021, through regular, measured and predictable increases," said Harry Bains, Minister of Labour. "As of tomorrow, we will have achieved - and surpassed - that goal, making sure workers who need regular and fair wage increases are getting them."

June 1 also marks the end of the discriminatory lower minimum wage for B.C. liquor servers, which disproportionally affects women.

"About 80% of liquor servers are women, and the low liquor wage is a clear example of the gender pay gap we are fighting to eliminate," said Grace Lore, Parliamentary Secretary of Gender Equity. "Most minimum wage earners are women, often racialized women and newcomers who face barriers to accessing better-paying jobs. We need to work towards wages that workers can actually live on instead of being held back by."