LivingWork Analytics- Minimum Wage Research Report

Introduction    The following research, estimates that 1 out of 4 workers in Canada currently work for $15/hour or less. It shows that a significantly higher proportion of these lower waged workers are women and that a majority of these workers are older than 25. The second part of the research estimates, using a simulation of 2016 data, that the direct cost of raising all employees to the new $15/hour minimum wage for Ontario  will add $6 billion per year in wages  or a mere 1.71% of the total wages paid to all employees in 2016. It also simulates the costs if all provinces in Canada were to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour and finds the total direct cost to be $14.7 Billion in added wagers per year or 1.6% of the total wages paid in the country.