Since the pandemic, employers have offered more than minimum wage to attract employees, even for positions at the bottom of the career ladder.
• Also read: Increase in minimum wage: More pressure on SMEs in Quebec
• Also read: How many hours a week do you have to work minimum wage to pay your rent?
“We charge almost $18 an hour for our pool lifeguards. Five years ago it was minimum wage. These are student jobs,” says Cindy Pellerin of Camping Luciole in Beauce. “We also offer them sweaters and meals when the food trucks come. That’s what we have to do to attract them,” she adds.
To address labor shortages, employers need to roll out the red carpet to attract workers. The minimum wage in Quebec is currently $14.25 an hour, but candidates often charge much more.
Divers $20 per hour
“Nobody pays the minimum wage in the catering industry anymore. The average dishwasher (dishwasher) salary as of Fall 2022 is $16.18 per hour. And I’ve seen divers make $20 an hour. Even a fast-food chef costs an average of $18.27,” says Martin Vézina, vice president of public and government affairs at the Association de la Restauration du Quebec.
The examples are numerous. VIA Rail is currently looking for employees for the home office in its call center. The requirement is only a Secondary 5, and the company is offering upwards of $25 an hour.
Major impact of the pandemic
“In the midst of a pandemic, the candidates didn’t hesitate to say, ‘I’ve done my math, and the PCU is paying me some more.’ So I said to my members: you have no choice, you have to put your hand in your pocket and better.” pay,” says Richard Darveau, President of the Quebec Hardware and Building Materials Association.
“There are no more minimum wage jobs in hardware stores. There used to be some, like cashiers or window dressers. But they too today want more than minimum wage,” adds Mr. Darveau.
“Me and my partner also took our lifeguard course. We have no choice, if a rescuer falls ill, we have to act as a substitute,” says Cindy Pellerin. “Even our bathroom attendants were making $20 an hour! ” She says.
No turning back
Even when the pandemic ends, it’s difficult for businesses to come back. “You can’t say: I gave you $17 and there, when the Covid is over, you go back to $15. It doesn’t work like that,” says Richard Darveau.
The latter is now campaigning for a reduction in opening hours, as this is the only way to absorb the costs and not pass them on to customers. “We don’t want to pass our cost increases on to our customers. Especially since the competition is not only from the neighboring hardware store, but also from Amazon, which has great purchasing power,” he explains.
The Institut du Québec recently found that the hourly wages offered for vacancies increased by 9.2% in one year. This is the largest annual increase since the release of the comparative data and more significantly than the consumer price index (+7.5%).
A minimum that has also increased significantly
Minimum hourly wage:
2016: $10.75
2017: $11.25
2018: $12.00
2019: $12.50
2020: $13.10
2021: $13.50
2022: $14.25
Do you have any information about this story that you would like to share with us?
Do you have a scoop that might be of interest to our readers?