Minimum Wage by Each Province: What a Teenager's First Canadian Job Actually Pays
Ask a Canadian teenager what their after-school job pays, and the honest answer is: it depends entirely on which province they happen to live in. Minimum wage by province teenager first job canada isn’t a single number the way it might feel like it should be — it’s thirteen different numbers, and the gap between the top and bottom of that list is several dollars an hour, not cents.
The current spread across the country
As of 2026, Nunavut sits at the top of the country at $19.75 an hour. British Columbia pays $18.25. Ontario is rising from $17.60 to $17.95 in October 2026. Quebec is moving from $16.10 to $16.60. And at the bottom sits Alberta, at a flat $15.00 an hour — a rate that has not moved since 2018, making it the lowest minimum wage in the country for several years running now.
Why Alberta’s frozen wage matters for a newcomer teen
This is a genuinely useful, non-obvious counterweight to Alberta’s reputation as the tax-friendly province: with Alberta’s minimum wage sitting at the bottom nationally, a teenager’s first part-time shift there is worth roughly $4.75 an hour less than the same shift in Nunavut, and about $3 less than in British Columbia. For a family weighing provinces partly on the strength of what their older kids might earn starting out, that’s a real, specific number worth having, not just Alberta’s low-tax pitch.
A provincial minimum wage comparison for a newcomer teen, side by side
| Province/territory | Rate (2026) |
|---|---|
| Nunavut | $19.75 |
| Yukon | $18.51 |
| British Columbia | $18.25 |
| Ontario | $17.60 → $17.95 |
| Prince Edward Island | $17.00 |
| Nova Scotia | $16.75 → $17.00 |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | $16.35 |
| Quebec | $16.10 → $16.60 |
| Manitoba | $16.00 → $16.40 |
| New Brunswick | $15.90 |
| Saskatchewan | $15.35 |
| Alberta | $15.00 |
What this actually means for a first part-time job
A first part time job pay for a newcomer teenager, at 10 hours a week, works out to roughly $150–$198 depending purely on province, before anything else about the job — hours, tips, sector — is even factored in. It’s a small enough number in a household budget that it rarely drives an emigration decision on its own, but it’s a genuinely concrete thing to tell a teenager who’s anxious about fitting into a new country: their first paycheque is real money, and knowing the local rate in advance beats being surprised by it on the first payslip.
One caution before you quote these numbers
These rates move on scheduled dates through the year in most provinces, and several of the figures above are already mid-change for 2026. Before you quote these hourly rates to your own kids, check the specific province’s labour standards page for the current rate closer to your landing date, rather than treating this table as fixed for the whole year.