Minimum Wage Increases Help Workers and Communities do better

Nova Scotia’s minimum wage is set to rise to $16.50 this October 1, 2025. While any increase helps, the truth is this wage is still far too low for people to make ends meet. In Halifax, the living wage is calculated to be $28.30 per hour. In Cape Breton, the cost is $24.00. The provincial average is over $27. The gap between what workers are paid and the cost of living continues to grow, leaving thousands of Nova Scotians struggling. It’s essential to dispel some common misconceptions. Raising the minimum wage does not cause runaway inflation or job losses. We hear this every time salaries go up, and it simply isn’t true.

Numerous studies in Canada and around the world suggest that when wages increase, local economies tend to become stronger. People spend their earnings in their communities on groceries, rent, clothing, gas, and childcare. That spending supports small businesses and creates more stable local economies. The majority of minimum wage and low-wage workers in Nova Scotia are not teenagers working a few hours after school. Eighty-five percent are over the age of 20, and more than four out of five are not students. Many are adults working full-time in retail, food service, care work, and on the front lines of the pandemic. For them, these wages are not just extra money. These wages are the primary household income for families, and often fall short of what’s needed to cover the basics of family needs. Over the past 25 years, inflation has risen faster than wages.

This means that even though the minimum wage increases slightly each year, its purchasing power has steadily declined. Workers today can buy less with their pay cheque than they could a generation ago. The costs of food, housing, heating, and transportation have skyrocketed. Without bold changes, more families will be forced to choose between bills, rent, and groceries. A fair minimum wage is about dignity and justice. It’s about ensuring that people who work hard are not living in poverty. It’s about recognizing that the economy works best when it works for everyone, not just those at the top. The Nova Scotia Federation of Labour calls on the provincial government to stop treating minimum wage as a token increase each year and commit to moving toward a living wage. Nova Scotians deserve wages that reflect the real cost of living, not the bare minimum.