Minimum wage is defined as the legal lowest pay rate an employer can pay his/her employee as set by its jurisdiction. In Canada, the minimum wage is set by its provinces and territories in relevance to their cost of living.
According to the retailcouncil.org, here are the minimum wages per province in Canada:
Nunavut is the province with the highest paying minimum wager per hour that starts at $16.00, followed by British Columbia, Yukon, and Northwest Territories at $15.20 per hour. While Nunavut seems to hold the first place, the call for its high starting wage is based on its high cost of living with grocery prices skyrocketing. Kyra Flaherty’s posts about Nunavut’s crazy expensive groceries with chips priced at $33 per bag made her a viral TikTok personality.
New Brunswick has the lowest minimum pay starting at $11.75 per hour, but it boasts of low cost pegged at $612 per person per month, comparably lower to the other provinces.
There is also a federal minimum wage which stipulates the minimum wage federally regulated bodies and industries must comply which is set to increase to $15 across Canada starting on December 29, 2021.
A lot of international students work part-time while studying to earn extra income to support themselves and to gain work experience. International students are allowed to work for a maximum of 20 hours per week and full time during semester breaks. Basically, income for international students are limited according to their minimum wage per hour depending on where they are—and on top of that—related work experience and qualifications for the job. The way around this dilemma is for international students to take entry level jobs with a good starting salary and to get jobs with tips and commission basis.
Here is a list of Top Paying Jobs for International Students:
- Servers (Average: $29,250/year plus tips)
Restaurant servers are among the top paid entry level jobs in Canada. Although most server job will start with a minimum wage, their salary is well compensated with tips and gratuities. A 12% to 20% tips is customary in Canada, in fact it can go higher depending on how generous customers are.
- Housekeeping jobs (Average:$32,000/year plus tips)
Although housekeeping jobs don’t sound that appealing, you may want to reconsider since housekeeping jobs can start at $25.00 per hour plus tips.
- Rideshare Drivers (Average: $37,000/year plus tips and incentives)
Uber and Lyft are two key players in the rideshare industry, and a lot of international students opt for this job as they pay high in commission, incentives, and tips. The downside, of course, is that you’ll have to have a driver’s license and a car, but on the up side, your hours are flexible plus students get to keep a car for themselves.
- Food Delivery (Average: $39,000/year plus tips and incentives)
Like the ride sharing drivers, food delivery is also a great option to make money because of incentives and tips. In fact the demand for food delivery was at its all time high during the pandemic since people could not go out and restaurant/business owners had to find a way to keep their businesses afloat through deliveries—making food delivery an essential job. Students don’t necessarily need to have a car to do food deliveries. Many food delivery can be done by walking specially if you are in a business district making money out of delivering lunches.
BONUS: Rideshare drivers and food deliveries are not counted in your 20 hours allowable maximum work hours.
- Cooks, food attendants, and fast-food workers (Average: $31,000/year plus tips and incentives)
Cooks and food attendants are one of the entry level jobs that requires little to no experience to start. A lot of teenagers have been in these positions as their first paying job or as a summer job. There is a constant need for for these jobs as there is no end for consumerism.
- Administrative assistant or office assistants (Average: $38,000/year plus incentives)
The need for administrative assistants or office assistants is almost in any industry. Clerical jobs do the basic office functions and communications—from answering the phone, forwarding emails, relaying information through the office, and the likes. You can also be working closely with someone and be organizing their schedules and making appointments. The bottom line is, as long as you are organized and know the basics of computer you can be an admin assistant.
- Content creators: writer, video editors and graphic designer (Average: $47,000/year plus commission and incentives)
If you are a digitally creative person, being a content creator might be the best gig for you. Outsourcing freelance talent is made easy by websites like fiverr.com and upwork.com etc., and the job opportunity on the web is endless. Freelance projects like writing, video editing, and graphic designing are also a great way to enhance your skills whether you are doing this as a side hustle or as a lifelong career.
- Dog walker (Average: $ 29,000/year plus tips)
If you love dogs, and dogs love you, being a dog walker can be the perfect job for you!
Not only do you spend your time with a lot of fur babies, you can also get healthy by doing a physically active job versus a sedentary one.
- Sales and retail jobs (Average: $30,000/year plus tips and incentives)
Sales and retail jobs make the whole business world going. If you have excellent communication and customer service skills, a sales job might be the best for you. If you are not confident doing face-to-face transactions, a lot of businesses these days can also be done online. On top of hourly rates, you can also get commissions and incentives for reaching sales quota.
- General transcriptionist (Average: $42,000/year)
To be a general transcriptionist, you must have two basic skills: listening and typing skills. General transcriptionists convert speech or video audio to a written or electronically typed document. A general transcriptionists can be paid from $0.50 to $1.00 per minute, or it can also be on a contract basis.
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