2019 Alberta Low Wage Data
Public Interest Alberta obtained the following information from Statistics Canada’s monthly Labour Force Survey. It indicates the average number of employed Albertans in each category for the year ending June 30, 2019.
The total number of employed Albertans in this period was 1,960,400. The Alberta government usually increases the minimum wage each year on October 1, but this year it is being frozen at $15 per hour, except for youth, who can now be paid $2 per hour less.
Nearly a quarter million minimum wage workers in Alberta can legally have their wages frozen this year, missing a key opportunity to boost the economy by putting more money in the pockets of the province’s lowest wage workers.
- 245,300 employed Albertans earn the current minimum wage of $15 per hour or less (12.5%).
- 277,500 earn less than $16 per hour (14.2%).
The majority of the lowest wage workers are women.
- 151,000 workers earning the minimum wage of $15 per hour or less are women (61.6%).
- 173,400 workers earning less than $16.00 per hour are women (70.7%).
More than three-quarters of workers earning minimum wage are 20 years of age or older.
- 185,200 are 20 years of age or older (75.5%).
- 121,900 are between 20 and 44 years old (49.7%).
- 53,200 are between 45 and 64 years old (21.7%).
- 10,100 are 65 years of age or older (4.1%).
Download our printable fact sheet.
Regional Fact Sheets
- Athabasca - Grande Prairie - Peace River
- Calgary
- Edmonton
- Lethbridge
- Medicine Hat
- Red Deer
- Wood Buffalo - Cold Lake
Media Release
Info Graphics
Public Interest Alberta in the News
Minimum wage freeze to affect Albertans 'already struggling': report by Diego Romero, CTV News Edmonton
Interview with Joel French on The Danielle Smith Show
Medicine Hat continues to have most low-wage earners in Alberta, Medicine Hat News
Interview with Joel French on the Alberta Advantage Podcast
Interview with Joel French on Rank and File Radio - Prairie Edition
