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The Gender Pay Gap for Private Sector Employees in Canada and Britain

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  • Drolet, Marie

    (Statistics Canada)

  • Mumford, Karen A.

    (University of York)

Abstract

This paper uses British and Canadian linked employer-employee data to investigate the importance of the workplace for the gender wage gap. Implementing a novel decomposition approach, we find high levels of unexplained wage inequality in the private sector of both countries, which is related to women receiving relatively lower wages within workplaces than do men. Whilst this inequality is partially offset by women, on average, receiving a workplace specific return which is relatively higher than that paid to men, a substantial and significant unexplained within workplace wage gap remains which is considerably higher in Britain than in Canada. The results are consistent with a prima facie argument that country-specific factors, such as the wage setting environment, are important determinants in explaining the relative size of the gender wage gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Drolet, Marie & Mumford, Karen A., 2009. "The Gender Pay Gap for Private Sector Employees in Canada and Britain," IZA Discussion Papers 3957, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3957
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Richard E. Mueller, 2022. "Gender pay gap in the public sector: Evidence from the Canadian Labour Force Survey," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 36(1), pages 29-70, March.
    2. Forth, John & Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos, 2022. "Earnings Discrimination in the Workplace," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1110, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Hussein Al-Zyoud & Walid Belassi, 2017. "Gender Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap: Rising Inequality in Alberta and Saskatchewan," Asian Social Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(2), pages 1-64, February.
    4. Sarah Louise Jewell & Giovanni Razzu & Carl Singleton, 2020. "Who Works for Whom and the UK Gender Pay Gap," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 58(1), pages 50-81, March.
    5. Antonczyk, Dirk & Fitzenberger, Bernd & Sommerfeld, Katrin, 2010. "Rising wage inequality, the decline of collective bargaining, and the gender wage gap," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 835-847, October.
    6. Geraldine Healy & M. Mostak Ahamed, 2019. "Gender Pay Gap, Voluntary Interventions and Recession: The Case of the British Financial Services Sector," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(2), pages 302-327, June.
    7. Oliver Masakure & Kris Gerhardt, 2016. "Employee Commitment and Wages in the Private Sector," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 30(1), pages 38-60, March.
    8. Li, Jiang & Dostie, Benoit & Simard-Duplain, Gaëlle, 2020. "What Is the Role of Firm-Specific Pay Policies on the Gender Earnings Gap in Canada?," IZA Discussion Papers 13907, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Christian Pfeifer, 2014. "The Gender Composition of Establishments' Workforces and Gender Gaps in Wages and Leadership Positions," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82, pages 69-81, December.
    10. Rachel Aleks & Tina Saksida & Sam Kolahgar, 2021. "Practice What You Preach: The Gender Pay Gap in Labor Union Compensation," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(4), pages 403-435, October.
    11. Dickson Thomas NDAMSA & Aloysius Mom NJONG & Francis Menjo BAYE & Jackson YOUYEM, 2015. "Investigating the role of male advantage and female disadvantage in explaining the discrimination effect of the gender pay gap in the Cameroon labor market. Oaxaca-Ransom decomposition approach," EuroEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 1(34), pages 55-72, May.
    12. Masakure, Oliver, 2016. "The effect of employee loyalty on wages," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 274-298.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    workplaces; gender earnings gap; Britain; Canada;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General

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