In 2019, the minimum wage was $11.90. As of October 1st, 2024, it has risen to $15.80 — a substantial increase of $3.90 in just five years.
As minimum wage continues to rise in an effort to help the middle-class balance finances and improve their quality of life, here is what the community is saying.
Local Business
Colton Schiller, owner of the King’s Deli in Winkler shared how the wage increase impacts his pricing strategy.
“I do my best not to pass on my price increases to my customers, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.”
He also shared some insights on how the hikes affect him personally through the supply chain.
“The effect I see is actually more on the back end because as the minimum wage increases, the product I buy, some of it comes from places where they pay their staff minimum wage which means they have to make more money and all that happens is that they raise my prices by that same percentage.”
For Schiller, the sign of a healthy local economy is one where small businesses and the middle-class grow together. But as prices and costs rise, he notes.
“When you look at it, there’s fewer small businesses being opened, and more large-scale franchises... at least in the context of the food and hospitality industry. And that tells a very interesting story.”
Student Insight
Michelle Beckstedt — a student in accounting at Garden Valley Collegiate — offered a fresh perspective, and what the increase means for people just entering the work force.
“It’s good to see... Cause with inflation your money is not worth as much.”
Beckstedt, who joined the work force roughly three years ago, has been working long enough to remember when minimum wage was under $12.00.
“I can look back and think ‘I was making eleven before’... but it doesn’t really affect the young person that starts right now.”
As a supervisor, Beckstedt shared that the minimum wage increase doesn’t affect her directly, as much as her coworkers who will be receiving fifty cent raises.
Chamber Chair Insights
Chair of the Winkler and District Chamber of Commerce, Hank Froese discussed both the potential benefits and drawbacks of the wage increase.
“In the case of the employees, it helps them out and may lift them out of poverty or help them with a better standard of living. It can increase spending which may stimulate the local economy as well... It’s good for the employees in that space.”
Froese also shared the other side of that coin, and how this could affect employees that are not making minimum wage.
“It reduces the pay difference between... jobs, that will basically cause wage compression which may cause some dissatisfaction among the more skilled jobs that are there.”
Froese warned that the rising minimum wage could result in reduced working hours, price increases, and in some cases even job loss as businesses adapt to the higher costs.
“I don’t think that’s sustainable... I think we probably need to stabilize for a period now.”
The Long Run
Mark Martens, a systems and accounting consultant, provided insights into the long-term effects of minimum wage increases on the local economy.
“Short term impact it has on low earners making more, attempting to move out of what would be considered a poverty bracket, the whole selling point it’s pointed at a very specific audience... Low-income families.”
He continued,
“About two to five percent of the minimum wage workers are... single parents with children. If you look at the group, you’re going to find a significant amount of that group is actually just work industry entrants coming out of school, typically with no dependents.”
Martens shared that when small businesses face mandatory wage increases, their only option is to raise prices. Unfortunately, this can negate the benefits of wage increases for low-income workers, who wind up paying those new prices.
“It’s the same people who just got [a] between zero and twenty percent raise. And suddenly that doesn’t mean so much anymore.”
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Conclusion
With the continued rise of minimum wage, the question of sustainability is one that some people in the Pembina Valley continue to ask. As the community adapts to the change, whether this will help or hinder local economy in the long run remains to be seen.
Click below to hear the full interviews with Colton Schiller, Michelle Beckstedt, Hank Froese, and Mark Martens