Minimum Wage On Poverty In Canada

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ECON 5522 Term Paper

The Effect of Minimum Wage on Poverty in Canada

Sean Gao
B00595861

I. Objective
This paper focuses on proposing some useful methods to carry out research and collect relevant data in order to study and address an important and widely concerned issue in Canadian labour policy: “what’s the effect of minimum wage on poverty in Canada?” More specifically, this question can be represented as:
1) “Would an increase in minimum wage result in a decrease or increase in Canada’s poverty rate (as measured by the percentage of population living in poverty or under poverty line)?”
2) “Does minimum wage not affect poverty rate in a significant way at all?”
3) “Is minimum wage a useful and powerful anti-poverty tool?”

II. Background
Minimum wage, which is the lowest compensation that is given to workers by the employers, hourly, daily or monthly, is a very commonly used labour policy tool, and is diversified across provinces and territories in Canada. However, people’s opinions towards the effect of minimum wage differ. Those who are in favor of the implementation of the minimum wage regulations argue that it increases the standard of living of workers, reduces poverty and inequality, increase morale and in turn the efficiency of businesses. Whole those who disagree view minimum wage laws as an inefficient tool of reducing poverty. Moreover, they claim that it increases unemployment. Economists are in less favor of minimum wage than the general public is. The argument that is widely recognized by economists was the one provided by George Stigler in 1949, who argued that the minimum wage was ineffective at reducing poverty. Based on his theory, employment may fall more in proportion to the wage increase, thus de...

... middle of paper ...

...2004
Sep-01
$7.05 May-01
$7.60 Jan-01
$6.80 Feb-01
$7.45 Oct-01
$6.80 Jun-01
$6.25 Jan-01
$6.30 Apr-01
$7.25 Sep-01
$7.00 2005
Mar-01
$7.55 May-01
$7.75 Apr-01
$7.15 Feb-01
$7.75 Apr-01
$7.15 Jan-01
$6.50
Jun-01
$6.75 Jan-01
$6.50
Jul-01
$6.70 Apr-01
$7.60 2006
Mar-01
$7.95 May-01
$8.00 Apr-01
$7.50 Feb-01
$8.00 May-01
$7.60 Jan-01
$7.00
Oct-01
$7.50 Jan-01
$7.00
Jul-01
$7.25 Apr-01
$8.00 Sep-01
$8.00 2007
Jan-01
$8.25
May-01
$8.60 May-01
$8.50 May-01
$7.75
Oct-01
$8.00 Mar-31
$8.75 May-01
$8.10 Apr-01
$8.00 Mar-31
$7.75 Apr-01
$8.50 Apr-01
$8.40 2008
May-01
$9.25 Jun-01
$8.20
Oct-01
$8.40 Mar-31
$9.50 Apr-01
$8.60 Jan-01
$8.50
Jul-01
$9.00 Apr-15
$8.00
Sep-01
$8.25 May-01
$8.75
Oct-01
$9.00 Apr-01
$8.80 2009
May-01
$9.50 Jun-01
$8.70
Oct-01
$9.00 Mar-31
$10.25 Apr-01
$9.20
Oct-01
$9.65 Jan-01
$9.50
Jul-01
$10.00 Apr-15
$8.50
Sep-01
$9.00 Oct-01
$9.50 2010

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