CLOSING ONTARIO’S GENDER PAY GAP – FACTS BY THE NUMBERS
Ontario Equal Pay Coalition – www.equalpaycoalition.org
The facts by the number1:
| 31.5% | 58.3% |
| Percentage pay gap between men and women in Ontario in 2011, the most recent year of data available, based on average annual earnings. That’s up from a 28% gender pay gap in 2010. |
The share of women among minimum wage workers in Ontario. Even at $11 an hour, the minimum wage still keeps a full- time, year-round employee working poor in Ontario. |
| 68.5 cents | 18.3% |
| How much Ontario working women made in 2011 for every man’s dollar. That’s down from 72 cents in 2010. |
Percentage of persons in Ontario low- income families where the woman was the main breadwinner in 2011, compared to 8.1% of male breadwinner low-income families. |
| $ 200 | 24% |
| Increase in Ontario men’s average annual earnings between 2010 and 2011. They earned an average of $49,000 in 2011. |
Percentage of fewer earnings for racialized women in Ontario compared to racialized men. |
| $1,400 | 27% |
| Decrease in Ontario women’s average annual earnings between 2010 and 2011. They earned an average of $33,600 in 2011 |
Percentage of fewer earnings for first- generation immigrant women in Ontario compared to immigrant men. |
| 38.5% | 40 % |
| Percentage gender pay gap for Ontario women between the ages of 35 and 44 in 2011 – the gap is highest for this age group. |
Percentage of fewer earnings for Aboriginal women in Ontario compared to non-Aboriginal men. |
| 79 | $6.43 |
| The age women in Ontario would have to work until in order to catch up to what men earn, on average, by the time they reach 65 years of age. |
The hourly wage premium for unionized women workers in Ontario, showing how unions can also be great equalizers. |
1 Source: A Growing Concern: Ontario’s Gender Pay Gap by Mary Cornish available for download at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ website www.policyalternatives.ca/ontario – Hennessy Index 2014, citing Statistics Canada Survey Labour Income Dynamics (SLID) data from 2011, the last year for which this data was available.