Effective April 1, 2024, the Yukon’s minimum wage will increase from $16.77 to $17.59 per hour. This increase is based on the 2023 Consumer Price Index for Whitehorse which is 4.9 per cent.
A minimum wage tied to inflation, as with other social supports, aims to help reduce poverty, increase affordability and address income inequality across the territory.
Our government is committed to making life more affordable for Yukoners. This minimum wage increase, alongside the many other actions by our government to make life more affordable across the territory, will help the Yukon’s lowest-paid workers make ends meet.
Minister of Community Services Richard Mostyn
I’m glad to see this CASA commitment is still making life more affordable for lower-income Yukoners. Tying the minimum wage to inflation was critically important when we made the commitment in 2021 and it's more so in 2024. It's crucial that we stay the course – Yukoners are telling us how hard it is to live when the cost of living outstrips the minimum wage and it's on us to listen.
Leader of the Yukon NDP Kate White
Eleven of 13 provincial and territorial jurisdictions in Canada have increased their hourly minimum wage to or above $15. Nunavut increased their minimum wage to $19 per hour on January 1, 2024.
The Government of Canada raised the federal minimum wage to $16.65 an hour on April 1, 2023.
The gross annual salary for a worker earning minimum wage at 40 hours per week would increase to $36,587 after April 1, 2024.
According to 2022 Yukon Employment and Skills survey data, 629 of 23,481
(or 2.7 per cent) of employed persons in the Yukon were earning a minimum wage in the fall of 2022.According to 2022 Yukon Employment and Skills survey data the overall average wage for Yukon workers in the fall of 2022 was $36.80 per hour.
Employees and employers who have questions about the increase can contact the Employment Standards Office at 867-667-5944 or eso@yukon.ca.
Renée Francoeur
Cabinet Communications
867-334-9194
renee.francoeur@yukon.ca
Bonnie Venton Ross
Communications, Community Services
867-332-5513
bonnie.ventonross@yukon.ca