Your editorial (Gazette, Jan. 13) on raising the minimum wage, "Tough Times", was full of misleading statements and very selective information.
To take one example, the Bank of Canada study that you cite did not conclude that 60,000 jobs would be lost across Canada. Rather, it said that there could be a slowdown in continued job growth.
What the Bank did find was that the costs are outweighed by the benefits from the minimum wage increase. This is a direct quote: “real labour income should be higher following the implementation of these measures relative to otherwise. This is because the 0.7 per cent increase in the level of aggregate real wages more than offsets the 0.3 per cent decrease in total hours worked.”
The Bank of Canada study confirms the views of most economists and business analysts – namely, that an increase in the minimum wage is not only good for the working poor, but also good for the whole economy. If you want more proof, look at the latest Alberta job growth numbers.
Jim Monzer, St. Albert
