With the minimum wage in B.C. set to rise tomorrow, the Kamloops Chamber says local businesses are generally prepared.

Chamber president Joshua Knaak says the general business community understands that wages are a factor in livability.

“We have known that it’s coming for quite some time, and as far as wage increases or any sort of cost increases go, the one thing that businesses really value in that is predictability. The fact that this isn’t a surprise certainly helps to make the adjustment.”

But Knaak says raising the bottom line does come with a challenge.

“It’s going to increase your total cost of doing business. There’s only a few ways that one can deal with that, and in most cases it’s by increasing the price of your product. It’s not necessarily huge increases in most cases, but nonetheless it has to increase it. And we’re competing [for product] with other markets; we’re competing with Alberta, we’re competing particularly with the United States.”

B.C.’s minimum wage will rise from $12.65 to $13.85 per hour as of tomorrow. It will rise again on June 1 of next year to $14.60, and again on June 1 of 2021 to $15.20.

(Photo: Retail Council of Canada)