Fraser Institute Logo

[Search]
[Media Releases]
[Events]
[Online Publications]
[Order Publications]
[Student]
[Radio]
[National Media Archive]
[Membership]
[Other Resources]
[About Us]


The
Economic Freedom
Network

  

Critical Issues Bulletins Logo

Provincial Economic Freedom in Canada 1981-1998

by Faisal Arman, Dexter Samida, and Michael Walker

[Previous] [Contents] [Next]

IV: Regulation of the Labour Market

IV(a): Minimum Wage Legislation

This component measures annual minimum wage as a percentage of per-capita GDP. This is a measure of a province's ability to bear a higher wage since per-capita GDP is a proxy for the average productivity of the labour force. As the minimum wage grows to be a higher percentage of per-capita GDP, the resulting inefficiencies would tend to grow as well.

Data Source: Human Resources Development Canada, Statistics Canada and the Provincial Economic Accounts, Statistics Canada, 1961-1996, disk version, Catalogue No. 13-213.

Table IV(a)-1:Minimum Wage as a Percentage of Per-Capita GDP
 

BC

AB

SK

MB

ON

QC

NB

NS

PEI

NF
1981 46.2 33.6 52.9 56.9 47.8 65.8 77.3 72.3 81.9 81.1
1985 41.3 28.3 51.9 52.5 40.2 49.9 61.1 57.3 75.2 71.6
1989 40.7 34.2 47.1 46.3 36.7 46.8 51.2 50.8 61.6 57.5
1993 47.0 34.5 49.7 47.3 47.5 52.3 51.6 53.3 54.3 58.3
1994 44.6 32.8 46.7 45.2 48.7 52.2 49.2 52.5 53.8 56.2
1995 51.6 32.4 44.3 45.6 48.4 54.7 46.9 51.4 51.5 54.0
1996 52.0 30.9 43.3 45.1 47.7 56.4 52.1 53.5 53.2 56.7
Table IV(a)-2:Rating Criteria

Rating

Minimum Wage as a Percentage of Per-Capita GDP

10

 % < 33.7%

9

 33.7% - 38.5%

8

 38.6% - 43.4%

7

 43.5% - 48.3%

6

 48.4% - 53.2%

5

 53.3% - 58.1%

4

 58.2% - 63.0%

3

 64.0% - 68.8%

2

 68.9% - 73.8%

1

 73.8% - 78.6%

0

 % >78.6%
Table IV(a)-3:Index Rating for Minimum Wages
 

1981

1985

1989

1993

1994

1995

1996
Alberta

10

10

9

9

10

10

10
British Columbia

7

8

8

7

7

6

6
Manitoba

5

6

7

7

7

7

7
New Brunswick

1

4

6

6

6

7

6
Newfoundland

0

2

5

4

5

5

5
Nova Scotia

2

5

6

5

6

6

5
Ontario

7

8

9

7

6

6

7
Prince Edward Island

0

1

4

5

5

6

6
Quebec

3

6

7

6

6

5

5
Saskatchewan

6

6

7

6

7

7

8

[Previous] [Contents] [Next]




 info@fraserinstitute.ca

You can contact us at the above email address for any comments or information requests. Please report any dead links or technical problems.
 
If you know someone who would be interested in this web page, please enter their email address below, and we will forward this URL to them:
Email Address:
Last Modified: Wednesday, October 20, 1999.