Mount Allison University

	Department of Economics

Current Students		Summer Research Projects Effects of the minimum wage Keith Walsh In 2004 about 547,000 Canadians earned the minimum wage or less. The NDP and various other organizations are in favour of reinstating the federal minimum wage and setting it at $10 per hour feeling that “the influence would extend beyond workers in the federal jurisdiction because it could serve as a best practice for labour standards across the country”. Setting the minimum wage generally attracts much controversy. There are those who feel that this sort of price floor will cause severe unemployment amongst minimum wage earners, hurting the very people that it is supposed to help. On the other hand, studies have shown an insignificant or positive relationship between the minimum wage level and employment rates and that it is an effective anti-poverty tool.
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This summer I will be looking at the minimum wage in each of Canada's provinces in an attempt to determine what effect the minimum wage has on employment, participation, and poverty rates. Further study will also be performed on variables that may have a greater effect on employment, participation, and poverty rates than the minimum wage such as the economic health of a province or the generosity of its social assistance programs.