The Government of the Northwest Territories is increasing its minimum wage to help residents with the rising cost of living due to inflation.
The territorial government is lifting the minimum wage by 5.6% to $16.05 an hour from $15.20 starting on September 1 of this year.
The Northwest Territories last raised its minimum wage by $1.74 in September 2021 after it had been unchanged since April 2018.
The territorial government also announced that, moving forward, its minimum wage will be reviewed and adjusted each September.
And, the Northwest Territories government said it plans to use a new method to calculate the minimum wage that is based on the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the City of Yellowknife.
Inflation in the Northwest Territories capital of Yellowknife tends to be higher than in the rest of Canada. In 2022, for example, inflation for all of Canada averaged 6.8% but was 7% in Yellowknife, according to Statistics Canada.
Minimum wage across Canada ranges from a low of $13 an hour in Saskatchewan to a high of $16.77 per hour in the Yukon, according to federal government data.
