[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Zarley

Did you even look this up before you posted?

Alberta Minimum Wage History
Alberta 01-Sep-14 $10.20 2.51%
Alberta 01-Sep-13 $9.95 2.05%
Alberta 01-Sep-12 $9.75 3.72%
Alberta 01-Sep-11 $9.40 6.82%

Under the old policy minimum wage was increased every year, you know, with inflation. And prior to that, even though it wasn't raised annually, annualized minimum wage growth was 4.47% between 1992 and 2009, higher than CPI growth of 4.29% over the same period.

The annual increases based on the rate of inflation in the 4 consecutive years prior to the NDP were a step in the right direction, however they didn’t address the minimum wage being significantly outpaced by inflation over the course of 4 decades.

You can’t play catch up with inflation the way you’re implying that you can. Imagine minimum wage is $1/hour and over a 5 year period the rate of inflation is 5% each year, or 25% total over 5 years. If you made the increase every year with inflation at the end of the the 5 years minimum wage would be $1.26/hour as opposed to $1.25/hour if you only make the calculation once at the end of the 5 years. This example makes the difference seem negligible but over the course of decades it adds up. This was discussed quite a bit earlier in this thread with Alberta specific numbers https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showpo...postcount=5262

Really? I don't recall much controversy at all. It was almost universally viewed as a fair system that accomplished exactly what a minimum wage is intended to.

I’m just curious, what exactly do you believe minimum wage is intended to do?

Apologies, I may have made a typo in haste but it doesn't affect the bottom line. Why are you ignoring the hostess?

Ignoring her? You were trying to argue that the remaining servers were not earning more as a result of the two other employees losing their jobs (the hostess being one of those employees). What would you like to discuss about the hostess?

Weekly Earnings Pre-Wage Increase
Rate / Base Pay / Tips /Total
Hostess $10.20 / hr / $408 / $408
Server $9.20 / hr / $368 / $368 / $736
Server $9.20 / hr / $368 /$368 / $736
Server $9.20 / hr / $368 /$368 / $736
Manager $25.00 / hr / $1,000 $1,000
Overall: $3,616
Weekly Earnings Today
Rate / Base Pay / Tips / Total
Server $13.60 / hr / $544 / $552 / $1,096
Server $13.60 / hr / $544 / $552 / $1,096
Manager $28.00 / hr / $1,120 / $1,120
Overall: $3,312[/QUOTE]

Makes you wonder why they gave the manager a raise with such tough times for the business. In doing so they basically put bringing on an additional staff member twice as far behind from a budget perspective.

Well, with thousands of service industry jobs disappearing, it’s not going to be easy. And even if these two hypothetical former employees find jobs, we know there are others who will not.

Do you assume the economy will perpetually shrink and that those others will never find jobs?

Well, yes it’s actually decreased.

I misinterpreted which net pay you were referring to originally. However the argument that net pay won’t increase overall assumes that the majority of employers who are paying minimum wage are doing so because they are at their breaking point.

In any case, things are not improving, except for those who manage to keep their minimum wage jobs. Once you consider the impact of this type of thing occurring at businesses across the province, you start to understand why we are seeing these poor employment numbers.

If it were happening across the province I’d probably agree with you. However the reality is that despite the tough times the industry has faced in Calgary over the past year, the overall provincial job numbers in accommodation and food service are up, and retail has only seen a very minimal loss.

https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/ce51...-july-2018.pdf

So you admit that a minimum wage increase of this magnitude only shifts earnings away from marginal employees while rewarding others?

No. Are you trying to suggest that every single minimum wage employer will reduce staff? Even Amber Ruddy wouldn’t go that far.

What is the benefit of this from a public policy perspective considering the public costs of increased unemployment?

Unemployment has been trending downward across the province for most of this past year.

Can you please explain what you mean in this sentence?

From the herald article:

“What we have heard from members and businesses is that even those that don’t pay minimum wage are having to increase their wages. Some businesses don’t want to be seen to be offering the minimum so when minimum wage goes up it pushes their wages up.”

Some of your arguments and examples make it seem as though you believe the majority of employers pay their employees as much as they possibly can as opposed to what they have to pay them.