Ontario's minimum wage is yet again about to increase, the Province revealed on Thursday, going from the current $16.55 per hour to $17.20 per hour later in 2024.

The 3.9 per cent hike is intended to help offset inflation and the rising cost of living for nearly a million residents currently working low-wage jobs, and is based on the well-documented (and much-deplored) jumps in the Consumer Price Index.

The change will come into effect on October 1, 2024, with the province writing Thursday afternoon that it is sharing the news six months in advance to "provide businesses with certainty and predictability."

Leaders added that the move should "help families offset the rising cost of living, so that Ontario continues to be the best place to live, work and raise a family."

Ontario is raising the minimum wage to $17.20 an hour on October 1, 2024.

This is a 65-cent increase from the current rate of $16.55.

— Nathan Chambers (@NathanChamberz) March 28, 2024

Aside from the standard minimum wage, wages for other groups will also go up: Students under the age of 18 who work 28 or fewer hours a week will also see their special minimum wage jump from $15.60 to $16.20 an hour, as will homeworkers, whose pay will go from $18.20 to $18.90 hourly.

The lowest going rate for Ontario's hunting, fishing and wilderness guides will also be amended from the current $82.85 to $86 per day for shifts of less than 5 hours, and from $165.75 to $172.05 per day for shifts of five or more hours.

Ford and his team last upped the province's base wage in October 2023, when it went from $15.50 to $16.55.

Here's how much it really costs a person to live in Toronto and it's way more than you think https://t.co/mAX7pIQnOR

— blogTO (@blogTO) February 27, 2024

Unfortunately, studies have shown that people need to make more than double minimum wage to comfortably afford to rent a place in Toronto, with some stats saying a person needs an after tax salary of $61,654 to $83,680 to live decently here — a 33 to 50 per cent jump from in 2017.

Ontario has the second-highest minimum wage of every province, trailing only B.C., a spot it will continue to occupy after October 1. The federal minimum wage, as of April 2023, is $16.65, though that too will be climbing to $17.30 hourly on April 1, 2024.