Business groups face hike in B.C.’s minimum wage
Posted June 1, 2026 7:49 am.
As of Monday, minimum-wage workers in B.C. will be making $18.25 per hour, up 40 cents. The province’s hourly wage has increased, as it has every year on June 1 since 2019.
President and CEO of the BC Chamber of Commerce, Jen Riley, tells 1130 NewsRadio Vancouver it’s good for workers amid an affordability crisis, but it’s a different story for businesses.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!“There are many affordability challenges against businesses of all sizes right now. One of them can be the minimum wage increase, which you can layer with additional pressures that are coming from each side. The minimum wage increase is going to have a ripple effect, not just on the lower level of the employee base, but also that’s going to ripple as you move up, which makes it more difficult for small and large businesses, honestly, to be able to absorb the needs of their workforce,” said Riley.
For smaller, struggling businesses, it may just be another added cost.
“Small businesses are definitely suffering. The affordability crisis that people feel at home is definitely also affecting our small businesses. This is going to be an added pressure with things like the new PST for professional services… even the thing you might experience as a consumer around your property tax going up: the same experience goes for a small business owner. At the end of the day, there are just pressures from everywhere and something’s got to give.”
She wonders what else the provincial government can do to help small businesses make ends meet.
“We leave this to the government to decide, ‘How can we relieve the pressure, which is hurting small businesses that are really fueling business communities around the province?'”
Based on the feedback she’s been hearing, Riley says she hopes the B.C. government backs down on its plan to implement PST on new services such as accounting.
“It’s one of those taxes on tax that get passed along to the consumer, and/or makes it more difficult for a small, medium and large business to operate, so that would be the one area of pressure that we would love to see relieved.”
Riley says the minimum wage hike will at least benefit young people struggling to find work.
“Perhaps seeing the minimum wage keep up with inflationary trends could bring some of that workforce back.”
Jairo Yunis, Director of Policy at the Business Council of BC (BCBC) echoed that sentiment. He tells 1130 NewsRadio Vancouver the wage bump could lead to hiring increases, but there are drawbacks.
“Instead of hiring someone who has never had a job before, or with less experience, or less skill, [businesses] choose someone with more experience who can be immediately productive. That makes it harder for people entering the labour market for the first time, particularly young workers who are overwhelmingly minimum-wage earners. Since January of 2019, youth employment in B.C. is down by 14 per cent, that’s the worst in the country.”
He adds that wages are the biggest cost component for businesses and adds that retail, accommodation and food services have shed more than 30,000 young workers since January 2019.
Yunis can’t say whether the extra money earned will be pushed back into the economy as business owners deal with a host of costs like permitting fees, and the incoming PST changes.
“For businesses operating on thin margins, like most entry-level employers, that shapes hiring decisions and scheduling decisions and how they think about productivity over time. The other thing to consider here is where is inflation going this year?”
Canada’s inflation rate sits at 2.4 per cent in April — the highest in two years — thanks to several factors, including economic effects of the war in the Middle East.
