Cambridge students tell premier minimum wage hike hurts part-time job plans

High school students raised concerns with Ontario's premier that the hike in the minimum wage could actually hurt their chances of getting a job.

Two students raised the issue of minimum wage during a town hall meeting at Glennview Park Secondary School in Cambridge Thursday morning.

"At some point in our four years, we will have a part-time job," student Maria Diogenous said. "With minimum wage increases, the amount of available jobs is slowly decreasing."

Grade 12 student Brock Fraser said he has heard of layoffs and people not getting as many hours as they used to, which could hurt his job prospects in the future.

"How are they going to get their first job, to get their foot in the door, when people are looking for experience and they can't really get that," he asked.

Wynne said while that has been the narrative chosen by some businesses, it's not always the truth.

"We have no evidence that the economy won't actually improve because of the minimum wage increasing," she said, adding Ontario is well-positioned to handle the wage increase.

"We have increased jobs in Ontario with the private sector by hundreds of thousands of jobs since the recession in 2008, 2009. Ontario is leading economic growth in the country," she said. "Ultimately, [raising the minimum wage] actually is a benefit in terms of job creation."

Incentives to hire students

She added server wages and student wages did not rise as much as the minimum wage, and businesses are given incentives to hire students, so it should not hurt their job prospects.

The rise in minimum wage is ultimately to find ways to help people so they can look after themselves and their families, she said.

"We need to look at ourselves and decide whether we think people should be asked to live in poverty if they're working 40 hours a week and I think the answer to that is no," she said.

After the town hall, Wynne said she was not surprised students had questions about the minimum wage.

"I'm hearing those questions and I think it was good that they raised them," she said, adding it was good to hear "about their concerns from a student's perspective."

Wynne had a visit scheduled later Thursday to Windsor, touring St. Clair College's Skilled Trades Regional Training Centre in the afternoon and hosting another public town hall Thursday night at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts.