Canada lost 88k jobs in Jan. 2018 and 59k of it is in Ontario.
Remember the 20% Ontario minimum wage hike that took effect Jan. 1. Now it does not look so good any more with the jobs number does it.
The following is my observation, I don't have numbers to back this after all Economics is my interest not full-time job. Business in Ontario can't hike prices to compensate and profit margins are thin. You can see average Canadians have record debt (167.3% of household income 2017Q4) and wage growth has been stagnant. So to balance out the minimum wage hike many will have to cut jobs, have existing employee work harder and cut benefits. After all nobody run a business to lose money, business owners have families to feed too.
There is 14M people in Ontario about half is employed.
Out of that about 1M work for the Ontario Government.
Remember Dr Milton Friedman's famous quote : " Government produce nothing "
Ontarians, we desperately need a smaller / cheaper government, not tax hike dress as wage hike.
Why pay more for points when you can get the same item cheaper at bulk store / no frills.
We need government to get rid of the hindering regulation and reduce the human and fixed capital used to enforce these red tape so the cost of doing business can go down and people can create jobs and wealth.
I would like to end with Mrs Thatcher's words of wisdom 'The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money'
Source for household debt Toronto Star
Source for job loss number Toronto Star
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Economists say it's too early to blame the minimum, wage hike. Sectors where minimum wage is the norm did not suffer significant jobs loss in Ontario (just 2k). These job losses were all part-time. Typically, minimum wage hikes cause full-time jobs to vanish as part-timers are cheaper to employ, and can have their hours cut without significant implications. That was not the case here.
Like the US, Canada is experiencing wage pressures which are affecting business and interest rates. Those pressures are predominantly from people making more than minimum wage. This is part of the reason why the US stock market has plunged of late.
It's not that raising the minimum wage can't affect things. It is, however, too early to make that assumption, let alone make that conclusion.
Yes the numbers are not out yet and it will be hard to prove. I am just going by talking to local small business owners to project what is going on. Wonder how much of job loss is from the big chains like Sears. Funny thing is in this seeming poor retail environment I observer Petsmart opening more stores in GTA.