‘It’s alarming to see’ women still earning 25 per cent less than men: report

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Men are still out-earning women to the tune of 25.5 per cent according to new research that comes one year after federal legislation on pay equity was enacted in the 2018 budget.

Ahead of today’s budget reveal, numbers released by Leger Research show self-reported salaries of 815 Canadians reveal women are missing out on an average of about $17,000 annually.

An even larger chasm is exposed when examining additional compensation like bonuses and pro-t-sharing. Working women ($3,912) earn only two-thirds compared to men ($5,823) according to the self-reported numbers.

Sooky Lee is the general manager of human resource outsourcing at ADP Canada, a payroll company that commissioned the report.

“It’s alarming to see that in 2019 there remains an impactful difference in compensation for Canadian men and women,” she says.

“Organizations and executive teams that do not make pay equity a corporate priority risk losing the ability to attract top talent.”

The belief gap

Men are less likely to think there’s a pay equity issue at all, according to the responses in the Leger report.

Less than two-thirds of women surveyed believe that men and women are compensated equally within their workplace.

In comparison, 80 per cent of men said they think men and women are paid the same where they worked.

Women reported earning less than $30,000 at nearly twice the rate (26%) of their male counterparts (14%).

Hope for the future?

It’s unclear what we will see in today’s fiscal plan. While there has been chatter about a national pharmacare program and helping young Canadians get into the housing market, little has been whispered about women’s equality measures.

Last year’s “historic” legislative shift was never meant to close the gap outside of the public sector but at the time Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke about the government taking a leadership role on pay equity.

The 2018 budget was dubbed the Liberal’s “gender” budget, but the government itself provided a reality check saying real sweeping change could come with broader policy shifts.

Those could include more investment in “early learning and child care, better financing of training and learning, enhanced parental leave flexibility, better pay transparency, and the continued appointment of skilled, talented women into leadership positions,” according to the government.

Trudeau has said he is dedicated to closing the gap and committed to women’s equality.

“Why should we get paid less? What’s the reason if we’re just as qualified as our male colleagues,” one woman told NEWS 1130. Others said it’s also about providing low-cost childcare, skills training opportunities more flexibility for parental leave.

“Childcare I think it’s the biggest one,” another woman told NEWS 1130. “It’s difficult to work unless you’ve got really steady, reliable childcare.”