Gender Wage Gaps in Quebec

By: Marie Helene Lafeuille

The Pay Equity Act, which came into effect in 2001, requires Quebec businesses with more than 10 employees to review their mechanisms for determining wages for female-dominated jobs compared to male-dominated jobs. This study attempts to measure the impact of such a law on the wage gap between men and women in Quebec. Data from Statistics Canada's Labor Force Survey (LFS) were used to estimate the share of discrimination in wage gaps using an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition-both adjusted and unadjusted for selection bias-in Quebec and Ontario. Between 1998 and 2006, a decrease in the share of discrimination in the wage gap in Quebec was observed, ranging from 2.8% to 16.5%, depending on the model and assumptions chosen. This reduction was 1.4 to 9.9 percentage points greater in Quebec than in Ontario. This translated into modest net wage gains ranging from 0.5% to 1.6%. In conclusion, it appears that the Act had a positive impact on reducing gender-based wage discrimination in Quebec.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 6630281314
• ISBN13: 9786630281316
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Our Knowledge Publishing
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 6.0"