Ontario's gender pay gap ladder gets steeper as incomes rise

New report calculates the gender pay gap at income levels from the bottom 10 per cent to the top 10 per cent.

Thestar.com
April 18, 2016
By Laurie Monsebraaten

The average working woman in Ontario makes 70.6 cents for every dollar a man earns*. The gender pay gap grows with each step women take up the income ladder, according to a new report. It is true for women in every occupation and industry sector and across all age groups and education levels, says the report, “Every Step You Take: Ontario’s Gender Pay Gap Ladder,” being released Monday by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Income: Women in Ontario earn an average of $36,000 a year to men’s $51,000 - for an average gender pay gap of 29.4 per cent.

At the bottom 10 per cent of the income ladder, women earn an average of $1,240 a year - $190 more than men.

But as incomes rise, disparity grows.

On the middle rung, women’s average earnings of $24,000 fall 27 per cent below those of men - an annual shortfall of $9,000 or $315,000 over a lifetime.

Among the best paid 10 per cent of women who earn an average of $109,000 a year, the earnings shortfall is 37 per cent less than top earning men, or $64,000 a year. Over a 35-year career, that amounts to $2.24 million less.
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Occupation: In every occupational category - even female-dominated fields such as health care - their average annual earnings are less than men’s pay.

Sales and service - Women’s earnings: $18,600; Men’s earnings: $36,000; Gender pay gap: 48%.

Social sciences and government - Women’s earnings: $51,000; Men’s earnings: $83,000; Gender pay gap: 39%.

Health care - Women’s earnings: $47,000; Men’s earnings: $75,000; Gender pay gap: 37%.

Natural and applied science - Women’s earnings: $62,000; Men’s earnings: $70,000; Gender pay gap: 11%.

Management - Women’s earnings: $67,000; Men’s earnings: $91,000; Gender pay gap: 26%.

Industry: All industries with data for women also reveal a gender pay gap.

Real estate and leasing - Women’s earnings: $27,000; Men’s earnings: $59,000; Gender pay gap: 54%.

Construction - Women’s earnings: $26,000; Men’s earnings: $40,000; Gender pay gap: 35%.

Finance and insurance - Women’s earnings: $42,000; Men’s earnings: $61,000; Gender pay gap: 31%.

Education services - Women’s earnings: $67,000; Men’s earnings: $87,000; Gender pay gap: 23%.

Public sector - Women’s earnings: $53,000; Men’s earnings: $70,000; Gender pay gap: 24%.

Private sector - Women’s earnings: $33,000; Men’s earnings: $52,000; Gender pay gap: 37%.

Education: Even though the majority of post-secondary degree holders are women and they are moving into professions once dominated by men, their average annual earnings still lag behind those of men.

Less than high school - Women’s earnings: $14,700; Men’s earnings: $24,000; Gender pay gap: 39%.
High school - Women’s earnings: $24,000; Men’s earnings: $37,000; Gender pay gap: 35%.

Some post-secondary education - Women’s earnings: $33,000; Men’s earnings: $49,000; Gender pay gap: 33%.

Bachelor’s degree - Women’s earnings: $46,000; Men’s earnings: $67,000; Gender pay gap: 31%.

Graduate degree - Women’s earnings: $62,000; Men’s earnings: $85,000; Gender pay gap: 27%.

Age: The gender pay gap persists throughout the life cycle, starting out narrower for younger workers but growing as women get older.

Age 15-24 - Women’s earnings: $10,300; Men’s earnings: $13,400; Gap: 23%.

Age 25-34 - Women’s earnings: $34,000; Men’s earnings: $47,000; Gap: 28%.

Age 35-44 - Women’s earnings: $45,000; Men’s earnings: $63,000; Gap: 29%.

Age 45-54 - Women’s earnings: $49,000; Men’s earnings: $70,000; Gap: 30%.

Age 55-64 - Women’s earnings: $40,000; Men’s earnings: $65,000; Gap: 38%.

Advocate for change: “Women are doing what it takes - getting an education, gaining more experience and working their way up the income ladder - only to find that women’s earnings are on average lower than men’s when they are in the lowest third of income earners, the middle-income groups, or the highest earners in Ontario,” says lawyer Mary Cornish, the report’s author and chair of the Equal Pay Coalition.

The coalition, which successfully lobbied for the implementation of Ontario’s proactive pay equity laws in the late 1980s, has called on Premier Kathleen Wynne and the business community to set 2025 as the deadline to end gender pay inequality in the province.

* Based on 2013 Statistics Canada income data including full- and part-time work, self-employed and paid employment.