By: Subi Anandarajah
More than half of Ryerson students believe increasing Ontario’s minimum wage to $15 is a good idea, according to a new poll.
The poll shows 60.8 per cent of students support increasing Ontario’s minimum wage to $15.
While the minimum wage now is $11.60, it will change to $15 in 2019.
Sixty-three per cent of people aged 15-24 have jobs, according to Statistics Canada.
The unemployment rate of people aged 15 to 24 has decreased by 21 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
Mikayla Fasullo, a first-year media production student, said she believes younger people will profit from the minimum wage increase.
“It encourages you to save, it encourages you to go to school,” said Fasullo.
“I agree with it as someone who, I guess, worked a lot during high school. It is really helpful when you’re making money as a student.”
According to the poll, 24 per cent of students believe jobs and the economy need to be addressed the most in Ontario.
While some students say the new minimum wage will be helpful, the long-term effects can harm others.
“I think it’s good for me because I’m a student, so I am working minimum wage. I think in the future it could be problematic for the economy because with minimum wage going up, there’s going to be increases in a lot of other prices,” said Hanna Andrejak, a business management student.
“As somebody who works a minimum wage job, it’s a relief but it’s also kind of a double edge sword. Everything else will go up, so it doesn’t really make any sense,” said Julia Fracassi, a third-year professional communications student.
Fracassi said small businesses will suffer.
“I work for a small company, so it’s a family owned business. It’s going to affect them really badly. They’re going to lose thousands of dollars, because they have to pay their employees more.”
Other students disagree with the increase.
“I also think that for a lot of starting jobs with a degree, you start for 14-15 bucks an hour. If minimum wage is 15 bucks an hour, obviously they’d expect more, so employers are going to be hiring less people and it’s just going to make the job market way too competitive,” said Hadeel Banat, a second-year electrical engineering student.
“I think as a student it’s very helpful for right now, but in a few years down the road, when we’re looking for real jobs and careers, it’s going to harm us more than help us.”
Ryerson School of Journalism students conducted the randomized poll. They surveyed 567 students at Ryerson University between Oct. 6 to Oct. 19. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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