B.C. minimum wage increases to $17.85

Canadian currency can be seen in this file photo. (David Prisciak/CTV News)

The minimum wage in B.C. is going up on Sunday to $17.85 per hour.

The jump represents a 45-cent increase from $17.40 or 2.6 per cent. It also applies to minimum wage rates for resident caretakers, live-in support workers, live-in camp leaders and app based-delivery and ride-hail workers.

“Government has made regular, gradual increases to the minimum wage to provide certainty for workers and predictability for businesses,” reads a news release issued Wednesday.

“This is the fourth year of the government’s ongoing commitment to tie annual minimum-wage increases to inflation.”

B.C. has the highest minimum wage of the Canadian provinces, but falls behind Yukon and Nunavut, where the rates are $17.94 and $19, respectively.

Minimum wage increases happen automatically each June 1 based on the previous year’s average inflation rate, according to the province.

About 130,000 workers in B.C. earned minimum wage or less last year, according to Statistics Canada.

Since 2015, B.C.’s minimum wage has risen by $7.40, growing with annual increases from $10.45 per hour up to the current rate.

Between 2001 and 2015, the minimum wage grew by just $2.45, from $8 to $10.45. There were no increases at all in 2002 through 2010, according to provincial data.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Ian Holliday