The minimum wage rose once October began, which affected both workers and businesses all across Saskatchewan.

The increase to $14 an hour was preceded by one back in 2022 that bumped the minimum wage to $13, with another increase to $15 coming in 2024.

Estevan Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jackie Wall says that the change has effects on both sides of labour.

"A minimum wage increase is always a double-sided story. Obviously, it is great for workers that the minimum wage is starting to rise and move up, but it also is 1  additional cost that small businesses will have to manage moving forward."

For many of those businesses in Estevan, they're already above minimum wage and such won't see a large impact on the cost of wages. 

For those that don't the scheduled increase was helpful so that businesses could make plans.

"I do appreciate the fact that it was an announced change and so businesses had time to prepare. I think that always helps when you can take a look into the future and know what your rising costs are going to be and then work at, you know, how are you going to address those costs?"

Even with that forewarning, both businesses and households already have a lot to deal with in the economy and the minimum wage change could be exacerbated by those factors.

"Unfortunately, business owners and actually citizens in general are feeling a lot of increases all the way around. I mean, inflation, increases in interest rates. So you know, households are really juggling a lot right now, and it's a very interesting time when people are looking at their finances."

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