Gender-, race-based wage gaps ‘enduring problem’: report – Canadian HR Reporter
‘Employment equity legislation could work to improve representation of women, Indigenous peoples, and visible minority groups in higher-paying occupations’
Wage gaps persist between men and women — as well as between white, Indigenous and visible minority groups — despite a wide range of legislation intended to close them, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.
The hourly wage gap between men and women in 2019 was still 19 per cent, although it was down from 27 per cent in 2000.
A large part of the gap is attributable to differences in men’s and women’s job characteristics, found the report.
For example, men in the private sector are more heavily represented in higher-wage industries such as oil and gas, while women are more heavily represented in lower-wage industries such as retail services or accommodation and food services, according to Tammy Schirle and Moyosoreoluwa Sogaolu, who wrote A Work in Progress: Measuring Wage Gaps for Women and Minorities in the Canadian Labour Market.
