Today the Province announced that on April 1st the minimum wage would be increased to $12.55 per hour.
Premier Stephen Macneil spoke about the increase at Province house “The economy has been vibrant and hot lately, but we saw that some Nova Scotians weren’t prospering from it. So this is the first step towards that along with our upcoming budget.”
The increase means Nova Scotia now has the second-highest minimum wage in the Atlantic provinces, PEI ranks first at $12.85 an hour.
This increase is large in the context of other minimum wage hikes. Between 2010 and 2019 the minimum wage was increased ten times the largest of which was in 2011 at 35 cents.
The province also announced they would be doing away with the inexperienced minimum wage. This program enabled employers to pay below the standard minimum wage in the event that an employee had worked for them less than three months and was inexperienced for the job.
The government also removed the partial hour rule which required employers to round up to the nearest half-hour regardless of how long they had actually worked. In a release, the government said ” Businesses have been advocating to remove the partial hour rule, as it will help lessen the costs and the administrative burden associated with the provision and reduce the overall regulatory burden.”
Annual increases to minimum wage are typically made in accordance with the projected increase of the Consumer Price Index but Premier Macneil said this increase goes beyond that figure.
