Labour Statistics and the Gender Gap
- In 2018, female employees aged 25 to 54 earned
$4.13 (or 13.3 per cent) less per hour, on
average, than their male counterparts. In other
words, these women earned $0.87 for every dollar
earned by men.
The Gender Wage Gap Decreased Between 1998 and
2018
- The gender gap in hourly wages has narrowed by
$1.04 (or 5.5 percentage points) since 1998, when
it was $5.17 (or 18.8 per cent).
The reduction in the gender wage gap between 1998
and 2018 was largely explained by changes in the
distribution of men and women across occupations;
women's increased educational attainment; and the
decline in the share of men in unionized
employment.
- The two largest factors explaining the
remaining gender wage gap in 2018 were the
distribution of women and men across industries,
and women's overrepresentation in part-time
work, the same largest explanatory factors
behind the gap in 1998.
Real wages (adjusted for inflation) grew faster
for women aged 25 to 54 than for men in this age
group between 1998 and 2018 (Table 1).
Specifically, women's average real hourly wages
increased by 20.5 per cent over the period, while
men's increased by 12.9 per cent. As a result, the
gender wage gap decreased by 5.5 percentage
points, from 18.8 per cent in 1998 to 13.3 in
2018.
![](http://www.cpcml.ca/images2020/Women/Women-Labourtable1.PNG)
Change in Occupational Distribution a Key
Contributor
Between 1998 and 2018, the occupational
distribution of men and women explained just over
a quarter (26.3 per cent) of the reduction in the
gender wage gap. Notable narrowing effects came
from professional occupations in law and social,
community and government services (8.5 per cent),
professional occupations in education services
(7.7 per cent) and professional occupations in
business and finance (7.2 per cent). These three
higher-paying occupational groups employed a
larger share of core-aged women in 2018 than in
1998. Also, earnings grew faster for women than
men in two of the three groups (professional
occupations in law and social, community and
government services and professional occupations
in business and finance).
Despite the net positive effect of occupation on
the narrowing of the gender wage gap, some
individual occupations served to widen the gap,
notably professional occupations in natural and
applied sciences (-9.2 per cent) and
administrative and financial supervisors and
administrative occupations (-7.4 per cent). These
two groups employed a larger share of core-aged
men in 2018 than in 1998, while earnings also
increased faster for men than women in
professional occupations in natural and applied
sciences.
Changes in Industrial Distribution Decrease
Gender Wage Gap
Although changes in occupational distribution
contributed to the decrease in the gender wage gap
from 1998 to 2018, the distribution of men and
women across industries served to widen the gap
(-8.0 per cent). This was driven by the
high-paying and male-dominated construction sector
(-14.0 per cent), where employment increased over
the period. The manufacturing sector helped to
counteract the effect of construction,
contributing 7.3 per cent to the narrowing of the
gap over the 20 years. This was largely due to the
decline in employment in manufacturing that
occurred over the period, with 25.2 per cent of
core-aged men employed in this sector in 1998,
compared with 15.5 per cent in 2018.
Women's Increased Educational Attainment Helped
to Narrow Gap
The increase in women's educational attainment,
relative to men's, was the second most important
determinant of the decrease in the gender wage gap
between 1998 and 2018. While equivalent
proportions of women and men had a university
degree at the bachelor level or above in 1998
(21.6 and 21.5 per cent, respectively), the
proportion of women with at least a bachelor's
degree increased to a greater extent in the
following 20 years than did the equivalent
proportion of men (+19.6 percentage points vs.
+10.8 percentage points). As workers with higher
education earned more on average, the relative
increase in women's educational attainment
accounted for 12.7 per cent of the decrease in the
gender wage gap that occurred over the period.
The other human capital variable, job tenure,
explained 5.5 per cent of the reduction in the
gap, largely due to a decline in men's job tenure
relative to women's between 1998 and 2018. By
2018, women's average job tenure (89.4 months)
surpassed that of men (86.8 months).
Men's Decreased Union Coverage Also Had
Narrowing Effect
Changes in job attributes also contributed to the
decrease in the gender wage gap that occurred over
the 20 years. Particularly important in this
regard was union coverage. While the proportion of
men covered by a union or collective agreement
decreased by 8.6 percentage points between 1998
and 2018 (from 38.2 to 29.5 per cent), the
equivalent proportion for women held steady at a
little less than 36 per cent. These differing
trends largely reflected the fact that men with
union coverage were concentrated in manufacturing
-- a declining sector through the first half of
the period -- whereas women in unionized jobs have
been concentrated in health care and social
assistance, and educational services. Since union
coverage is associated with higher average wages,
the decrease in the proportion of men with union
coverage led this variable to account for 9.3 per
cent of the decrease in the gender wage gap that
occurred between 1998 and 2018.
The other job attribute variables each accounted
for a smaller part of the narrowing over the
period, with part-time and public sector
employment at 4.8 per cent each, and firm size at
3.1 per cent. Beginning with part-time employment,
the narrowing effect was tied to a decline in the
proportion of women working part time, from 21.0
per cent in 1998 to 16.0 per cent in 2018.
Meanwhile, the narrowing explained by public
sector employment was due to an increase in the
proportion of women working in the public sector
(34.1 per cent in 2018, compared with 31.1 per
cent in 1998), while earnings returns for these
workers also increased. Lastly, the portion of the
narrowing explained by firm size was driven by an
increase in the proportion of women working for
large firms (defined as having more than 500
workers), which tend to have higher wage premiums
than smaller firms.
Key Part of Remaining Gap Explained by
Industrial Distribution
The industrial distribution of men and women
explained the largest portion of the gender wage
gap in both 1998 (16.5 per cent) and 2018 (39.7
per cent). Additionally, the same three sectors
drove the gender wage gap in both years:
construction (6.3 per cent in 1998 and 17.7 per
cent in 2018), manufacturing (8.5 per cent in 1998
and 9.1 per cent in 2018), and mining, quarrying,
and oil and gas extraction (3.5 per cent in 1998
and 6.7 per cent in 2018). These three sectors
drove the gender wage gap in both 1998 and 2018
due to employing substantially larger shares of
men than women, and due to their relative wage
premiums.
Along with industry, occupational distribution
also explained a small part of the gap in 1998
(1.8 per cent) and 2018 (5.1 per cent). Among all
occupations, the male-dominated professional
occupations in natural and applied sciences
contributed the most to the existence of the wage
gap in both 1998 and 2018. This is consistent with
the results discussed above, showing that
increased employment and earnings for men in this
occupational group had a widening effect on the
gap over time.
Part-time Employment Contributes to the Gap
Beyond gender differences in industry and
occupation, only women's overrepresentation in
part-time employment explained a notable portion
of the gap in 1998 (8.9 per cent) and 2018 (9.2
per cent). While the previous section showed that
some reduction in part-time work among women
contributed to the narrowing of the gap over the
period, and even though women received a smaller
wage penalty for part-time work than men, women's
higher likelihood of working part time still
contributed to the existence of a gender wage gap
in both 1998 and 2018.
Despite having virtually no effect in 1998,
public sector employment and union status each
counteracted the gap in 2018, at -5.3 and -3.4 per
cent respectively. This is consistent with the
previously-discussed increase in public sector
employment for women and decrease in union
coverage among men between 1998 and 2018.
While job tenure had little impact on the gap in
2018, men's longer job tenure than women in 1998
explained a small portion of the gap (2.3 per
cent) at that time. Education had virtually no
impact on the gap in 1998, but it counteracted it
in 2018 (-4.8 per cent). This finding largely
reflects the fact that more women than men had a
university degree at the bachelor level or above
in 2018.
This article was published in
![](http://cpcml.ca/Tmlw2019/Articles/Logo-TMLWeeklyIP-Small.jpg)
Volume 50 Number 7 - March 7, 2020
Article Link:
Labour Statistics and the Gender Gap
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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