Getting by on $8 an hour
By Alissa Mcarthur, 24 HOURS
Sept 4, 2009

You get up at 5 a.m. to work in a cramped cafe to sling espresso for fussy latte drinkers who want their milk "extra hot", wet coffee grinds splattering your clothes as the stack of dirty mugs in the back topples over.

"I'm not paid enough for this," you think. If you're among the British Columbians who earn minimum wage - $8 an hour - for your travails, you are now in the lowest wage category in the entire country.

Since New Brunswick raised their minimum to $8.25 on Monday, calls to increase B.C.'s minimum have been renewed. ….

Thomas Lemieux, a professor at the University of British Columbia who specializes in labour economics, is skeptical of employers who directly correlate minimum wage increases to job losses.

"It's a little hard to believe," Lemieux said. "If you raise the minimum wage it's going to cut into their profits, which they don't like."

Lemieux said according to the research he's seen on wage rates in North America, increases in minimum wage tend to have a negligible impact on employment.

B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair said ultimately, the responsibility is squarely on the government's shoulders. He has been critical about Premier Gordon Campbell raising his own pay but not raising minimum wage in the eight years he's been in power.

"In B.C., [the business sector] does not support raising the minimum," he said, "but the real problem isn't business being greedy, it's government siding with business."