Minimum wage in Nova Scotia to increase by $1 an hour to $12.55

Nova Scotia·New

The minimum wage in Nova Scotia will increase by a dollar on April 1. That will make the wage $12.55 per hour, according to a news release from the province.

Nova Scotia will have the second-highest minimum wage in Atlantic Canada

CBC News · Posted: Jan 30, 2020 11:06 AM AT | Last Updated: January 30

The minimum wage in Nova Scotia will increase by a dollar on April 1.

That will make the wage $12.55 per hour, according to a news release from the province.

This is the largest increase to the minimum wage the province has made in a decade. It will give Nova Scotia the second-highest minimum wage in Atlantic Canada, said the release.  

The minimum wage in the province has been creeping up since 2013 with 10 or 15 cent increases each year until 2019, when the province hiked the minimum wage by 55 cents to $11.55 per hour.

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Premier Stephen McNeil said in today's release that the move will help all Nova Scotians benefit from the province's economic growth and that the government is committed to making changes that benefit both workers and businesses. 

Those changes include altering wage regulations by eliminating the minimum wage system for inexperienced workers and discarding the partial-hour rule. 

The system for inexperienced workers allowed employers to pay less than minimum wage under certain circumstances. Under the new rules, those workers will also be entitled to the $12.55 wage.

The partial-hour rule required businesses to round up the time an employee worked to the nearest half hour or full hour.

Businesses have been lobbying to remove the partial-hour rule to reduce costs, according to the province.

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