The province's minimum wage will be increasing by $1 per hour on April 1st.

The provincial government announced in December that the minimum wage will increase by $2 per hour this year. The 17 per cent increase represents the most significant jump in the rate since 1980.

New Brunswick currently has the lowest minimum wage in the country and is lower than the rates in the other Atlantic provinces by significant margins. Since 2019, the median wage in the province has increased by 14 per cent compared with a two per cent increase in the minimum wage.

The scheduled increase of $1 per hour on April 1, followed by another $1 per hour increase in October, will boost the province's minimum wage to $13.75 per hour, the top rate in Atlantic Canada.

This adjustment will benefit about 15,500 minimum wage earners, as well as 30,000 New Brunswickers who make more than the present minimum wage but less than $13.75 per hour.