Bringing minimum wages above the poverty line

By Hugh Mackenzie, Stuart Murray

Subjects: Income distribution, Minimum wage, Economic conditions

Description: This study shows that raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour (in 2005 dollars) is do-able - in fact, it has been done in Canada in the past. The real (after-inflation) minimum wage in BC reached $10.15 per hour in 1976, and a number of other jurisdictions have had real minimum wages close to $10.