Around 45,000 workers across Saskatchewan will be receiving a mandated raise come Saturday.

The provincial government announced the minimum wage hike in May to take effect on October 1, jumping the rate from $11.81 per hour to $13.

Don Morgan, minister of labour relations and workplace safety for Saskatchewan, said the $1.19 per hour raise signalled a shift by the province stepping away from the indexation formula they relied on for nearly a decade to calculate the increase.

"As other provinces were increasing, we realized we were falling to the back," he said. "Now in recent times we've had a very serious round of inflation and we thought it was time to make a market adjustment."

Saskatchewan currently has the lowest minimum wage of any province and territory in Canada. This bump will move them ahead of just Manitoba and New Brunswick.

"I don't regard us as being in a competition with other provinces, obviously people are aware of them," he said. "I think we look at the cost of living in our province."

Morgan believes the changes the province made on the tax threshold and low utility rates should factor into the minimum wage reasoning.

The provincial government will raise the minimum to $14 per hour on October 1, 2023, and then to $15 an hour on October 1, 2024.

"There's no doubt when you have a wage increase, there may well be price changes down the line," he said.

Morgan added the province didn't want to raise the number to $15 an hour this year so businesses would have time to adjust slowly.

The province plans to return to the indexation formula for future increases after reaching the $15 mark.