Oh, so now Target boosts its workers' pay

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Target Corp. is getting a tax break, and its workers are reportedly getting a pay hike.

Target Canada is in bankruptcy protection, and its workers will probably be getting EI.

From launch to liquidation, the American discount retailer has had quite an impact in its short time here, first on consumer prices and, soon, on unemployment.

Two years ago, there was the "Target effect," as some called it, referring to the impact on inflation as retailers scrambled to meet the U.S. company's first foreign foray with lower prices and fierce competition.

Two years on, the "Target effect" may well be the impact on unemployment over the next few months.

As The Globe and Mail's Dave Parkinson writes, Target's Canadian shutdown will play out in the jobs market in April, May and, possibly, June.

Some stores are shutting down now, while others are actually busy amid their liquidation sales.

"When the store fully closes its doors in the spring, then we will see the effect," chief economist Douglas Porter of BMO Nesbitt Burns said recently.

"Even then, it may be blunted if some of the workers are picked up by others - though the size and scope of the layoff (over 17,000) will be tough to digest quickly," added Mr. Porter, who expects the fuller impact to show up in the May or June employment reports from Statistics Canada.

Target's fast departure from Canada has also left a sour taste among some creditors here. As The Globe and Mail's Marina Strauss reports, they would dearly love some of the $1.6-billion (U.S.) tax break the parent company is getting in its home country because of the stumble in Canada.

No doubt the Canadian workers, too, are bitter as they lose their jobs, just as their American counterparts get a pay raise.

According to reports, Target is taking a page from its U.S. competitors and hiking wages to at least $9 an hour as of next month.

(Who knows what would have happened in Canada had Target stayed? Minimum wages are different in Canada, and, indeed, across the provinces. Just this week, British Columbia said it will raise its minimum wage by 20 cents to $10.45 an hour in September, while Ontario's climbs to $11.25 a month later.)

Target already topped the $7.25 U.S. minimum, and is matching earlier wage hikes by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and TJX Cos.

It hasn't publicly announced the pay raise, but the move has been reported by several news organization. Target hasn't yet answered my query, either.

Maybe because I'm Canadian, and we don't matter much anymore?

(By the way, Target has also just announced an "extended one-year return policy." That means customers can return 32 brands, not that they're coming back any time soon.)

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