IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cpp/issued/v24y1998i2p185-208.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Private-Sector Experience with Pay Equity in Ontario

Author

Listed:
  • Judith A. McDonald
  • Robert J. Thornton

Abstract

Since 1988 Ontario has had the most comprehensive comparable-worth or "pay-equity" policy in North America, if not the world. Ontario's Pay Equity Act is proactive rather than merely complaints-based and covers nearly all employers in the private as well as public sectors. In this paper we analyze the Ontario pay-equity policy and its experience to date. After reviewing the findings of several surveys sponsored by the Ontario Pay Equity Commission, we present the results of our own detailed survey of 27 Toronto firms in which we concentrated on their experiences implementing pay equity. Overall, we find that both the magnitude and the scope of pay-equity adjustments to date have been rather modest. However, most firms reported that pay equity was a significant administrative burden and generated major difficulties and complaints with the process of job evaluation. In addition, we discovered evidence of a fair amount of noncompliance with and manipulation of the requirements of the act.

Suggested Citation

  • Judith A. McDonald & Robert J. Thornton, 1998. "Private-Sector Experience with Pay Equity in Ontario," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 24(2), pages 185-208, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpp:issued:v:24:y:1998:i:2:p:185-208
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0317-0861%28199806%2924%3A2%3C185%3APEWPEI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-F
    Download Restriction: only available to JSTOR subscribers
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rhoads,Steven E., 1993. "Incomparable Worth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521441872, October.
    2. Marcotte, M., 1987. "Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value," Papers 10, Queen's at Kingston - Sch. of Indus. Relat. Research Essay Series.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chicha, Marie-Thérèse., 2006. "Analyse comparative de la mise en oeuvre du droit à l'égalité de rémunération : modèles et impacts," ILO Working Papers 993920333402676, International Labour Organization.
    2. Michael Baker & Nicole Fortin, 2004. "Comparable worth in a decentralized labour market: the case of Ontario," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 37(4), pages 850-878, November.
    3. Morley Gunderson & Paul Lanoie, 2002. "Program-Evaluation Criteria Applied to Pay Equity in Ontario," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 28(s1), pages 133-148, May.
    4. Nan Weiner, 2002. "Effective Redress of Pay Inequities," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 28(s1), pages 101-115, May.
    5. Morley Gunderson, 2002. "The Evolution and Mechanics of Pay Equity in Ontario," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 28(s1), pages 117-131, May.
    6. repec:ilo:ilowps:399524 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Chicha, Marie-Thérèse., 2006. "A comparative analysis of promoting pay equity : models and impacts," ILO Working Papers 993995243402676, International Labour Organization.
    8. Michael Baker & Nicole Fortin, 2000. "Does Comparable Worth Work in a Decentralized Labor Market?," CIRANO Working Papers 2000s-49, CIRANO.
    9. repec:ilo:ilowps:392033 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Mark Cassidy & Eric Strobl & Robert Thornton, 2002. "Gender Pay Differentials and Equality Legislation in the Republic of Ireland," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 28(s1), pages 149-169, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Morley Gunderson & Paul Lanoie, 2002. "Program-Evaluation Criteria Applied to Pay Equity in Ontario," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 28(s1), pages 133-148, May.
    2. Petersen, Trond & Meyerson, Eva & Snartland, Vemund, 1996. "The Within-Job Gender Wage Gap: The Case of Sweden," Working Paper Series 470, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    3. Mark R. Killingsworth, 2002. "Comparable Worth and Pay Equity: Recent Developments in the United States," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 28(s1), pages 171-186, May.
    4. Petersen, Trond & Snartland, Vermund & Meyersson Milgrom, Eva M., 2006. "Are Female Workers Less Productive Than Male Workers?," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt5619b3vh, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpp:issued:v:24:y:1998:i:2:p:185-208. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Iver Chong (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.utpjournals.press/loi/cpp .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.