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Ontario Increasing Minimum Wage to $16.55 an Hour

TORONTO — The Ontario government is increasing the minimum wage to $16.55 an hour on October 1, 2023. This 6.8 per cent pay raise for low-income workers builds on the government’s steady and predictable increases every year to help families offset the rising cost of living.

“Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government is putting workers in the driver’s seat of their careers, and their lives,” said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. “This latest increase is a fair and balanced approach that means more money in their pockets so they can support their families and continuing building a stronger Ontario for all of us.”

A worker making the general minimum wage and working 40 hours per week will see an annual pay increase of nearly $2,200. There were 942,400 workers earning $16.55 per hour or below in 2022, the majority of whom are women.

This minimum wage increase builds on the government’s work to make Ontario the best place to live, work and raise a family. Most recently, the government introduced the Working for Workers Act, 2023, which will, if passed, provide ground-breaking protections for millions of workers in Ontario.

Quick Facts

  • Just over 40 per cent of workers at or below the current general minimum wage of $15.50 per hour are in retail trade and almost 25 per cent are in accommodation and food services.
  • Ontario’s new minimum wage is the highest of any province in the country. For example, Quebec has a minimum wage of $14.25 an hour, British Columbia has a minimum wage of $15.65 an hour, and Alberta has a minimum wage of $15.00 an hour.
  • The special minimum wage rates will also increase for:
    • students under the age of 18, who work 28 hours a week or less when school is in session or work during a school break or summer holidays, from $14.60 to $15.60 an hour.
    • homeworkers (those who do paid work out of their own homes for employers), from $17.05 to $18.20 an hour.
    • hunting, fishing and wilderness guides, from $77.60 to $82.85 per day when working less than five consecutive hours in day, and $155.25 to $165.75 per day when working five or more hours in a day.

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