Minimum wage Quebec 2026: $16.60 an hour

Quebec minimum wage for 2026

Quebec's general minimum wage is $16.60 an hour from May 1, 2026, a 3.11% increase of 50 cents that the government says covers more than 258,900 workers.^[qc_mw] The same rate applies to full-time and part-time workers, and the employer must pay at least that hourly rate even if it provides benefits such as a car or housing; people paid by commission or by the piece must earn at least the equivalent of the minimum for the hours worked.^[cnesst_mw]

A few groups are outside the minimum wage rules, including students working for a non-profit social or community organization, trainees in a recognized vocational training program and workers paid entirely by commission who sell outside the workplace with hours that cannot be controlled.^[cnesst_mw]

Quebec tipped minimum wage: who can be paid $13.30

Only workers who usually receive tips can be paid the $13.30 tipped rate, and only in four kinds of workplace: a restaurant (not fast food or places where customers pay before eating), a business that sells, delivers or serves meals to eat elsewhere, a room where alcohol is served for drinking on site, and tourist accommodation, including campgrounds.^{[cnesst_tips]} The $13.30 must be paid as wages; tips come on top and cannot be used to reach it. A server working 30 hours at $13.30 earns $399.00 a week in wages before tips.

Quebec overtime rules

In Quebec, overtime is every hour past the 40-hour standard work week, paid at time and a half (the regular hourly rate × 1.5); there is no daily overtime threshold.^[cnesst_ot] The 40 hours apply even if the workplace's normal week is shorter, and some workers, such as security guards, sawmill and logging workers and people in remote areas, have a different standard week.^{[cnesst_week]} Statutory holidays falling on a normal work day count as hours worked for the overtime count.

CNESST example, run through the calculator. A printing-shop worker paid $20 an hour works 45 hours: 40 hours × $20 = $800.00, plus 5 hours × $30.00 = $150.00, for $950.00.^[cnesst_ot] At the minimum wage the same week pays $788.50, and a tipped worker at $13.30 earns $631.75 in wages, with overtime at $19.95.

Quebec minimum wage per week, month and year

At $16.60 an hour a 40-hour week pays $664.00 and a 52-week year $34,528; a 35-hour week pays $581.00, $30,212 a year.

Vacation pay is 4% of gross wages earned in the reference year (usually May 1 to April 30) with fewer than 3 years of uninterrupted service, and 6% with 3 weeks off from 3 years.^[cnesst_vac] That is 3 years in Quebec, compared with 5 years for 6% under the Ontario vacation pay calculator.

Quebec minimum wage increases since 2018

Quebec raises the minimum wage every May 1; it has gone from $12.00 in May 2018 to $16.60, up 38.3%, and the government aims for a minimum wage of about 50% of the average hourly wage.^[qc_mw] The next increase would take effect May 1, 2027; its amount has not been announced yet.

Quebec compared with other provinces

Quebec's $16.60 is $1.35 below the minimum wage in Ontario and $1.60 above the minimum wage in Alberta, Canada's lowest. Most provinces change their rates on April 1 or October 1; Quebec is the only one on May 1.

Download this table (CSV)

Prices in Quebec: GST plus 9.975% QST

Most purchases in Quebec carry 5% GST and 9.975% QST, both on the price before tax, so $100 costs $114.98 ($5.00 GST + $9.98 QST).^[rq_rules] Split a Quebec receipt with the GST calculator or take the tax out of several totals with the reverse HST calculator.