As B.C. prepares to increase its minimum wage to $12.65 an hour on June 1, a new study suggests that it will do little to reduce poverty.

More than 84 per cent of B.C.B次元官网网址檚 minimum wage earners donB次元官网网址檛 live in low-income families, the Fraser Institute found in an that define poverty in Canada.

In 2017, more than 55 per cent of minimum wage earners in B.C. were aged 15 to 24, and 78 per cent of them lived with parents or other relatives.

And more than 22 per cent of the same group had an employed spouse, of which 93.1 per cent earned more than the minimum wage or were self-employed. Only two per cent of minimum wage earners were single parents with young children.

B次元官网网址淐ontrary to widely held misperceptions, the vast majority of minimum age earners in B.C. arenB次元官网网址檛 poor, and they are rarely the primary or sole income earner in their household,B次元官网网址� said Charles Lammam, director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute. B次元官网网址淭he majority are, in fact, teenagers and young adults living with their parents.B次元官网网址�

The June 1 increase from $11.35 to $12.65 an hour is part of the B.C. NDP governmentB次元官网网址檚 pledge to raise the minimum wage in steps to $15.20 by 2021. ThatB次元官网网址檚 a 34 per cent increase in three years, and it meets a long-standing demand of the B.C. Federation of Labour that the minimum wage reach $15 an hour.

Labour Minister Harry Bains announced in April that the lower minimum wage for liquor servers is also being phased out, with larger increases until it matches the general hourly rate in 2021.

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The latest increase comes as the B.C. government is under pressure from business groups about its health care payroll tax. Finance Minister Carole James disputed a Greater Vancouver Board of Trade study that said two thirds of small businesses said they expect to pay the tax. The employer health tax is being phased in starting January 2019.