TORONTO - The minimum wage in Ontario will increase to $10.25 per hour effective Wednesday -- an increase of 75 cents.

The wage has increased each year since 2004, when it stood at $6.85 per hour, after being frozen between 1995 and 2004.

With the latest increase, the rate will have grown by almost 50 per cent since 2004.

In 2004, the hourly rate was $6.85 per hour until it was increased to $7.15 on Feb. 1 that year.

The rate was boosted to $7.45 in 2005; $7.75 in 2006, $8 in 2007; $8.75 in 2008 and to $9.50 per hour on March 31, 2009.