The pay gap between women and men continues to shrink, although it is still present 26 years after the adoption of the Pay Equity Act in Quebec whose purpose among others is to redress differences in compensation due to the systemic gender discrimination suffered by persons who occupy positions in predominantly female job classes. The results of the study are indeed good news for Park-Extension’s women working force which comes from a varied cultural background.
According to a recent study which was initiated by the Institut de la statistique du Québec, the women’s earnings in 1998 were 83% of men. In 2021, this ratio had reached 91%. Thus, women earned an average of $27.39 per hour while men earned $30.16 per hour.
This rise can be explained, among other things, by the increase in the number of salaried jobs held since 1998 one can read in the published report of Statistics Quebec. “Among the ten major occupational groups, four have seen their hourly wage ratio women / men increase by at least 9 percentage points since 1998,” said Statistics Quebec.
This increase in the ratio of hourly compensation was therefore observed in management occupations (+12 points, 91%), sales and services (+12, 92%), in occupations in the manufacturing and utilities (+12.79%) as well as all business, finance and administration occupations (+9.90%). “For the other six major occupational groups, there was no statistically significant change between 1998 and 2021,” added the Institut de la statistique du Québec.
