Portrait of wage gaps between university-educated women and men

Notice of release

Montréal, March 8, 2021 – In all Québec companies with 200 or more employees combined, approximately 303,510 regular full-time employees work in a profession requiring a university education. Of them, 176,720 are women (58%). They earn on average $2.83 per hour less than their male counterparts, or 93.7% of men’s wages.

The relative wage gaps between men and women in occupations requiring a university education are less than those in occupations at other skill levels. At other levels, women earn between 83.6% (on-the-job training) and 90.4% (secondary school training) of men’s wages. This information comes from an analysis bulletin released today by Institut de la statistique du Québec based on the most recent data on the subject (2019).

Highlights

Professional women in companies with 200 or more employees:

Occupy 68% of unionized jobs and 42% of non-unionized jobs. They represent 39% of the workforce in the private sector and nearly 70% in the public sector.
Earn less than their male colleagues in both the private and public sectors, whether unionized or not and whether or not their job is predominantly held by women. Specifically:

Both non-unionized and unionized women earn a lower average wage than their male counterparts: almost $3/hr. and $4/hr. less, respectively.
They earn about $4/hr. less than male professionals in both the private and public sectors.

Average hourly wage in occupations requiring a university education by gender, companies with 200 or more employees, Québec, 2019

Sector	Proportion of women	Average hourly wage

		Combined	Analysis by gender

			Women	Men	Gap	Ratio

	%	$	$			%

All workers	58.2	43.48	42.30	45.13	-2.83	93.7
Unionized	68.0	44.02	42.84	46.51	-3.67	92.1
Non-unionized	42.3	42.61	40.89	43.88	-2.99	93.2
Privé	39.0	41.49	39.29	42.89	-3.60	91.6
Public¹	67.7	44.46	43.15	47.20	-4.05	91.4

The analysis focuses on permanent full-time employees, i.e., those with indefinite-duration employment contracts who work more than 30 hours per week. 1. The public sector consists of the following subsectors: Québec’s public administration (Québec public service and public education, school service centers and colleges, and health and social services), the federal administration in Québec, the municipal administrations of cities with a population of 25,000 or more, universities and public enterprises under federal, provincial or local jurisdiction. Note: All wage gaps shown in the table are significant at the 5% level. Source: Institut de la statistique du Québec, Résultats de l'Enquête sur la rémunération globale au Québec – Collecte 2019.

This analysis does not identify the causes of the gender wage gap. However, certain factors, such as gender differences in workforce composition, job tenure, labor market experience and compensation arrangements, as well as demographic characteristics such as family status, may partly explain the gap.

A complementary analysis, presented in the bulletin, looks at how the distribution of women and men across occupations and sectors affects wage gaps. The results of this analysis generally show a smaller gender wage gap when the results are adjusted for differences in gender distribution by occupation.

Institut de la statistique du Québec produces, analyzes and disseminates official, objective and high-quality statistical information on various aspects of Québec society. It is responsible for conducting all statistical surveys of general interest. The relevance of its work makes it a strategic ally for decision makers and all those wishing to learn more about Québec.