The minimum wage in the province is going up for the second time in a year today to $13.60 an hour.  A year from today it will rise to $15.00 and whether this is a good thing for low wage workers or a disaster for small business employers depends on who you speak to.

Amber Ruddy the Alberta Director for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says minimum wage increases impact small business owners.  She says there are other ways to reduce poverty.  She calls the minimum wage a "blunt tool."

"It has a lot of unintended consequences and that's why small business owners get really worried when they see large jumps in the minimum wage over such a short period of time."

Ruddy says she's heard from small business owners that a minimum wage increase will force them to raise prices and, if the business is operating on small margins, might make the business not viable.  

The CFIB wants to focus on other ways to help low wage earners, according to Ruddy.  "That would include lowering the personal exemption so people could keep more of their money up front.  We also want to focus on training opportunities.  If people think they're stuck in an entry level position there should be ways for them to obtain training for jobs that would suit their lifestyle."

She says the $15 figure is completely arbitrary and based on a figure from the United States.

Gil McGowan, the President of the Alberta Federation of Labour says that's not true and that $15 is thought of as being radical but that it's not.

"At $15 an hour our minimum wage will be 50 percent of the provincial median wage of $30 an hour.  That's where the minimum wages are in other provinces and in other industrial counties.  The minimum wage in those places is about half of the median so, in many ways, in moving to $15 an hour we're just catching up to other jurisdictions in terms of purchasing power."

McGowan says there are two reasons why employers who cry wolf are wrong and why minimum wage increases are actually good for workers and the economy.

"The first reason is higher minimum wages reduce employee turnover because people are more likely to stay in a job if they're paid better.  This is turn boosts productivity and profits which allow employers to keep their workers and hire more.  The second reason is they increase purchasing power of low wage workers.  When you put an extra dollar in a low wage worker's pocket that worker doesn't invest it abroad like a wealthier person might.  The reality is because they're living paycheque to paycheque they don't even save it.  If a low wage worker has an extra dollar he's going to spend it and he's going to spend it in the local economy."

McGowan says economic models that predict job layoffs because of the minimum wage increase just aren't realistic.

"If you have a model that overestimates the down size and ignores the upside you're going to have a flawed model that produces flawed conclusions.  That's exactly what we've seen lately, we've seen a bunch of models that are crying wolf when there is no wolf."

The increase to $13.60 per hour is a $1.40 per hour increase and is the second in the province in a year.  Next October 1st the minimum wage in Alberta is scheduled to rise to $15 an hour. 

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