Minimum Wage In Ontario Is About To Go Up & This Is How It Could Affect Your Job

Get ready, workers; Ontario's minimum wage is getting a raise next month.

Beginning October 1, the province's general minimum wage rate is set to go from $14.25 to $14.35 per hour.

A 10-cent raise will also be applied to the student minimum wage, liquor servers' minimum wage, and the homeworkers wage.

For students, the hourly rate will go from $13.40 to $13.50. This applies to any worker who is under 18 and works 28 hours (or fewer) a week while school is in session, or if they're working during summer holidays or a school break.

The hourly rate for liquor servers will go from $12.45 to $12.55, and this rate applies to employees who serve alcohol and regularly get tips.

Homeworkers will see their minimum wage go up from $15.70 to $15.80 per hour. The Ontario Ministry of Labour categorizes homeworkers as "employees who do paid work in their own homes." The paid work ranges widely and can include things like sewing clothes for a manufacturer, answering calls for a call centre, or writing software for a tech company.

In addition, students who are employed as homeworkers should be paid the homeworkers minimum wage.

Hunting and fishing guides, as well as wilderness guides, will also see a rise in hourly rates. The rate for working less than five hours straight per day will increase from $71.30 to $71.75. The rate for working five or more hours in a day will get raise by 95 cents to $143.55.

Across the country, Nunavut has the highest minimum wage rate at $16 per hour, while Saskatchewan has the lowest rate at $11.45 per hour.

In June, the Government of Canada announced that the federal minimum wage will officially get bumped up to $15 per hour on December 29, 2021.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.