Provincial government launches public consultation on minimum wage, overtime policy

Do you believe that someone working full-time at minimum wage — currently $15.90 per hour in New Brunswick — can afford the basic necessities of life, such as food, housing, and transportation and other essentials?

That’s one of the questions that the provincial government is asking as part of a public consultation on the minimum wage. Premier Susan Holt’s government announced the consultation process on Tuesday, saying it would continue until Oct. 9.

Members of the public can participate by filling out an online survey. Feedback can also be submitted by email at labourtravail@gnb.ca or by phone at 1-844-453-4155.

The brief survey asks people for their opinions on the current minimum wage, how it’s calculated, and its effects on the economy.

The Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour is required to review the minimum wage and how it’s determined every two years under the Employment Standards Act.

However, this marks the first public consultation on the matter since 2016, according to the provincial government.

The minimum wage reached $15.90 per hour on April 1, following a 25 cent increase.

It’s currently the third-lowest in Canada, ahead of Alberta ($15 per hour) and Saskatchewan ($15.35 per hour), according to data compiled by the Retail Council of Canada.

New Brunswick also has the lowest minimum wage in Atlantic Canada: it stands at $16.35 per hour in Newfoundland and Labrador, $16.75 per hour in Nova Scotia, and $17 per hour in P.E.I.

The minimum wage is updated annually in New Brunswick on April 1 based on the previous year’s rate of inflation, using the Consumer Price Index.

Anti-poverty advocates have long maintained that minimum wage work means living in poverty, in contrast with a living wage.

A living wage is the “hourly rate a worker needs to earn to meet basic needs, live with dignity, and maintain a decent quality of life,” according to the Human Development Council, which publishes annual living wage estimates for New Brunswick and its main urban centres.

The province-wide living wage reached $24.77 per hour last year, according to the latest calculations. That figure was even higher in Fredericton, reaching $26.05 per hour.

‘Time-and-a-half’ based on minimum wage

The survey also asks members of the public for their opinion on New Brunswick’s unusual overtime policy.

New Brunswick is the only province other than Newfoundland and Labrador that allows employers to calculate overtime pay at 1.5 times the minimum wage — instead of 1.5 times the worker’s regular wage.

In other words, the minimum overtime rate is $23.85 per hour for any hours beyond the “standard work week,” which is officially 44 hours in New Brunswick.

If a worker’s wages already exceed the minimum overtime rate, employers aren’t required to offer any extra pay. Employers also have the right to require overtime hours from workers.

Under New Brunswick’s labour standards, even a worker whose regular wage is $23 per hour could be required to work overtime for just $23.85 per hour.

In most provinces and all territories, the same worker would receive what’s commonly known as time-and-a-half, at $33 per hour.

Anti-poverty campaigners from the NB Common Front for Social Justice published a report last year calling for that policy to be eliminated from New Brunswick’s labour standards.

READ MORE: Scrap policy allowing ‘time-and-a-half’ based on minimum wage, Common Front tells province

Minimum wage report

By 2025, there were 18,300 people earning the minimum wage in New Brunswick, or five per cent of workers, according to a minimum wage report published by the provincial government in April.

Inflation-adjusted figures indicate that the purchasing power of New Brunswick’s minimum wage peaked in 1976 before it declined sharply.

It then “reached new highs” following two one-dollar increases that occurred in 2022, the government report states.

Those one-dollar increases followed pressure from organized labour and anti-poverty groups, after the government of then-premier Blaine Higgs implemented a five cent minimum wage increase based on inflation in 2021.

A 2024 study published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found that 33 per cent of workers in New Brunswick earned no more than $20 per hour. Of that number, the vast majority were permanent, full-time workers over the age of 20.

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, via the Local Journalism Initiative.