One in four Alberta businesses will lay off employees due to $15 minimum wage

Calgary, September 15, 2016 – Following the Alberta government’s announcement earlier this week that $15 an hour minimum wage has been enacted in regulation, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) released new survey data today casting further doubt on this controversial policy decision.

The impact on Alberta businesses will be severe. When asked what actions your business would take to cope with $15 minimum wage, 26 percent will reduce the hours of staff and 26 per cent will cut down on the number of employees.

Alberta businesses were asked to agree or disagree with the following statements.

Governments should increase the minimum wage rate during economic downturns 2 percent agree, 89 per cent disagree, 9 per cent don’t know

When asked if Governments should be required to conduct and publicly release the results of a thorough employment and economic impact analysis for proposed minimum wage increases, 89 per cent agreed, four percent disagreed, 7 per cent don’t know

“Premier Notley stated that her aggressive minimum wage policy won’t kill jobs. Then show us the evidence. Small business owners have expressed a fundamentally different perspective based on their experience. If the Premier valued the views of entrepreneurs she should listen and act on what they have to say,” said Amber Ruddy, CFIB’s Alberta Director.

“The Labour Minister’s view that this provides the business community certainty, completely misses the point. I haven’t heard a single business celebrating the predictability of this new government induced hurdle to their business,” concluded Ruddy.

The control web accessed survey was conducted from June 13, 2016 to August 9, 2016 and received 7,495 responses from businesses across Canada including 1,030 in Alberta.

To arrange an interview with Amber Ruddy, CFIB’s Alberta Director please contact msalb@cfib.ca or 1-866-444-9290.

CFIB is Canada’s largest association of small- and medium-sized businesses with 109,000 members across every sector and region.