Ontario minimum wage hike kicks in; most workers now make at least $15.50 per hour

Ontarians who make minimum wage are waking up to a raise.

Starting today, the general minimum wage is up 50 cents to $15.50 per hour -- a move announced by the Ford government in April.

Students under 18 are now earning $14.60 per hour, up from $14.10, while homeworkers -- those who do paid work out of their own homes for employers -- are seeing a 55-cent raise, to $17.05 per hour.

The Ford government previously cancelled a 2019 minimum wage increase to $15 from $14 per hour that had been planned by the former Wynne government.

The Progressive Conservatives then raised the wage to $15 per hour in January of this year, with Ford saying that the boost was done to make life more affordable for people.

The 50-cent increase comes after Canada's annual inflation rate reached a nearly 40-year high in June -- and although it has slowed since, Statistics Canada reported in August that grocery prices rose at the fastest rate since 1981.