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A new report on minimum wage increases in Alberta adds to a chorus of criticism that the pay bumps for low-income earners are poorly timed and will come with the unintended consequences of killing jobs.

The report, published Tuesday by the think tank C.D. Howe Institute, suggests that Alberta’s plan to lift its minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2018 could scrap 25,000 jobs as employers cut staff to deal with higher labour costs.

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Joseph Marchand, the report’s author who also teaches economics at the University of Alberta, said many workers currently scrambling to make ends meet will benefit from higher pay. As the minimum wage rises, he said, those who make slightly more will also likely seek better wages.

“Those (benefits) are real, but does it outweigh the employment loss when the province is already losing employment?” Marchand said, calling the NDP plan to hike the minimum wage by nearly 50 per cent in four years “drastic.”