Minimum wage in Nova Scotia ‘not sufficient’ amid increase: CCPA
Posted Mar 31, 2026 10:44:07 AM.
Last Updated Mar 31, 2026 11:16:09 AM.
The minimum wage will go up in Nova Scotia on Wednesday, but at least one organization is saying the increase is not enough.
The minimum wage in Nova Scotia will see a 25-cent jump to $16.75 an hour on April 1, with another 25-cent increase in October.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) says that the increase falls short of what people actually need to live in the province.
According to the institute, Nova Scotia’s hourly minimum wage is $10.85 short of the province’s living wage, which is $27.60.
As a living wage analysis from the group reveals, the gap between what people need to earn and the minimum wage has almost doubled since 2018.
In Nova Scotia, approximately 50 per cent of workers earn less than a living wage, with more women than men below that threshold.
“These increases do little to bridge the gap to the living wage in any Atlantic province,” says Christine Saulnier, Nova Scotia Director of the CCPA, in a release. “Adjusting these minimums by overall Canadian inflation, or even inflation plus one per cent, as is the case in Nova Scotia, is not sufficient.”
She says the minimum wage increase should consider other factors as well, including rental costs and food cost inflation.
In their recent labour standards report, the CCPA recommends the government significantly raise the minimum wage, with a plan to reach $20 an hour, and continue reducing the living wage gap, noting that the annual adjustment should consider provincial inflationary costs.
The CCPA’s research shows the disparity even more pronounced for workers in Halifax, where the living wage is $29.40 per hour, one of the highest in the country.
