Fewer and fewer workers who work on the sales floor or behind store checkouts are paid minimum wage. Determined to keep their employees and attract new ones, Quebec retailers are trying to offer more attractive remuneration.
Nearly 85% of companies in the retail sector have a little less than a quarter of their employees who earn “a salary rate lower than the next general minimum wage rate”, set at $15.75 in Quebec from 1er may. This data was collected as part of the 2024 retail sector salary forecast survey, the results of which were revealed on Wednesday.
“Companies are increasingly distancing themselves from the general minimum wage rate, while 40% of companies surveyed have no employees with a wage rate lower than $15.75,” we can also read in the document produced. by Rémunia, at the request of Détail Québec, sectoral committee for the retail workforce
Fewer people than before are working in clothing stores and other sporting goods retailers to earn minimum wage. They went from 116,800 in 2019 to 77,200 in 2023 to be paid at this rate. In total, there were 630,675 employees in the sector in 2019 compared to 641,677 four years later.
” Who would have believed it ? Retail companies tend to move away from the minimum wage to remain competitive in a market that has really tightened,” said Manuel Champagne, general manager of Détail Québec, in light of these results, shortly before the presentation of the results as part of a conference held on the occasion of HR Day, organized by the Quebec Retail Council.
“It’s a paradigm shift. »