Federal minimum wage to increase on April 1, 2025

The Government of Canada has recently announced that the minimum wage for federally regulated employees will increase to $17.75 per hour – a 2.4 percent increase from the current rate. Employers must adjust their payroll information accordingly to ensure that federally regulated employees are paid at least the new minimum hourly wage as of April 1, 2025.

According to the federal government, the minimum wage increase will better ensure that “salaries for workers in federally regulated private sectors are keeping pace with year-over-year cost of living increases and help Canadians working in part-time, temporary and low or minimum wage jobs earn more.”

The federal minimum wage is adjusted every year on April 1 based on Canada’s annual average Consumer Price Index in relation to the previous calendar year, rounded up to the nearest $0.05.

In provinces and territories with a higher minimum wage rate than the incoming federal minimum wage, employers are required to pay the higher of the two minimum wages. At present, only Nunavut, Yukon (as of April 1, 2025) and British Columbia (as of June 1, 2025) have higher minimum wage rates than the federal minimum wage – these rates being $19.00, $17.94 and $17.85 respectively.

For more information on the federal minimum wage increase, please contact any member of our Canadian Employment and Labour Law Service Group listed here.