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Have you already made any of the following changes to prepare for Ontario’s increase in the minimum wage to $15 per hour? (select as many as apply)

Almost half of the businesses surveyed have fewer employees under 25 years of age today than they did last year as a result of the minimum wage hike.

As business owners end up working longer hours themselves to cover the production loss, the study also finds they are being forced to cut back on training – on average, new hires are losing nearly an hour of training per week compared to last year. This training time is critical for someone not only learning the ropes of a new job, but also taking their first steps into working life.

Small business owners want to hire young people and give them their first job opportunity and set them up for a successful career. Sadly, this is becoming unfeasible due to rapidly escalating wage costs. Here’s what some small business owners said about it:

— “We have had this family business for 50 plus years and I don’t see a good future. Seasonal workers will be cut and student labour will not be hired this year as we cannot afford to hire them and survive.”

— “I cannot take time to train anymore; better to pay more and get trained people. Sadly, no more summer students.”

— “We absolutely will not hire a student to train — who will make more money than us (the owners), who take all the risk.”

Obviously, this is not good news for the next generation of workers.

While it might be a benefit for those who do manage to get hired, it also creates more competition for fewer positions. This means there will be more students who miss out on their first steps into the workplace and enter the labour market after graduation with no work experience.

• Aaron Aerts is an economist at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.