The gender pay gap has narrowed by about a buck since 1998
The gender wage gap has narrowed over the last twenty years, but we are still nowhere near parity.
On average, women in their prime working years (25 to 54) made $26.92 per hour in 2018, according to Statistics Canada. Their male counterparts made $31.05.
That’s a difference of $4.13, or 13.3 per cent, which means women make $0.87 for every dollar men earn.
When Statistics Canada compared wages in 1998 to 2018, it found the gap narrowed by $1.04, or a 5.5 percentage point drop from $5.17.
The agency chalks it up to more women pursuing higher education and a dwindling share of men in unionized jobs.
The two biggest reasons for the gap remain the same today as they were in 1998. Women still tend to be employed in lower-paying positions, although this is slowly changing, and natural and applied science jobs continuing to be male-dominated.
Women also make up a bigger chunk of the part-time workforce.
However, nearly two-thirds of the gap simply cannot be explained. Statistics Canada says it could come down to work experience, but it could also be due to things that can’t be measured, like gender bias.
The study is based on 56,000 households and did not take factors like race into account.
Jessy Bains is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jessysbains.
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