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Canada’s Pay Gap

Hennessy's Index: A number is never just a number

Hennessy's Index is a monthly listing of numbers, written by the CCPA's Trish Hennessy, about Canada and its place in the world. For other months, visit: http://policyalternatives.ca/index

  • 32

    Percentage, on average, that women earn less than men in Canada. That means that on average, a woman makes only 68 cents for every dollar a man makes. It varies by province. For instance, in Ontario it’s 28 per cent. [Source
  • 15

    Number of additional years that a Canadian woman will have to work to earn the same pay which a man earns by age 65, at the current rate of progress. It varies by province. In Ontario, that number is 13 extra years. [Source]
  • 62

    Percentage of university undergraduate students in Canada who were women in 2008. Even though women are more likely than men to go to university or college, they don't necessarily end up getting paid better once they're in the work force. [Source]
  • $24,000

    The number of additional dollars men working full-time, year-round in Canada between the ages of 35 to 44 made, on average, compared to women in 2008. [Source: Statistics Canada Report Economic Well-being” by Cara Williams (2010) at page 14]
  • 7 out of 10

    Number of part-time workers in Canada who are women. Women are more likely to hold multiple part-time jobs. [Source: Statistics Canada Report “Paid Work” by Vincent Ferrao (2010) at page 13]
  • 60

    Percentage of minimum wage workers in Canada who are women. In many households today, it takes two income earners to make it. [Source: Perspectives on Labour and Income, 2009 LFS data (Canada)]
  • 12

    Percentage less that Canadian women with children earn than women without children. [Source: Statistics Canada Report “Economic Well-being” Cara Williams (2010) at page 17]
  • 67

    Percentage of women in Canada who work in traditional occupations such as teaching, nursing, clerical, admin or sales and service jobs in 2009. [Source: Statistics Canada Report “Paid Work” by Vincent Ferrao (2010) at page 21]
  • 47 cents

    The average amount working racialized women in Ontario were short-changed for every dollar non-racialized men got paid for work in 2005. [Source: Wellesley Institute]
  • 20

    Percentage of Canadian women in low-wage jobs, compared to 10 per cent of men. Source: "Women's Poverty and the Recession" by Monica Townson, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (2009) at page 16]
  • 2x

    Poverty follows women into their retirement: women 65 or over are twice as likely as men to be low income. [Source]
  • $125.8 billion

    Women, families, communities, and the economy suffer when there is pay inequality. The estimated annual lost income potential of Canadian women as a result of unequal income and labour force participation rates, according to a 2005 Royal Bank of Canada report, was $125.8 billion. [Source: Royal Bank of Canada report “The Diversity Advantage: A Case for Canada’s 21st Century Economy” at page 21]

Businesses, not unions; guests, not customers, team members, not employees

Projects & Initiatives: Labour Matters

For some old arguments in a new format, check out this Orwellian video, compliments of Target, for this season's newest line of anti-union propaganda. Two exemplary Target "team members" explain why we no longer need unions because we have laws prohibiting child labour. According to them, unions are businesses that need your dues to stay in business, but the only ones who benefit from unions are...unions. Not only that, bad unions picket nice Target stores and make Target's "guests" feel uncomfortable. 

Work Life: Employee association, traditional union or new social order?

Commentary and Fact Sheets
Projects & Initiatives: Labour Matters

Employee association, traditional union or new social order?

Projects & Initiatives: Labour Matters

More and more we’re starting to hear how groups of precariously-employed workers are responding to the vagaries of the “new normal” labour market. From lower-skilled workers to professionals of all stripes, an increasing number of workers are classified as independent contractors, temporary workers, contract employees, part-time and freelancers.

Three stories have caught our attention: one in the US, one in Canada and one from Europe. Putting the three together forces some interesting observations and questions. Read more in this commentary piece by Lynne Fernandez, CCPA-MB's Errol Black Chair in Labour Issues.

Deflating the "carbon bubble" through fossil fuel divestment

Projects & Initiatives: Climate Justice Project

Between two-thirds and four-fifths of known fossil fuel reserves have been deemed to be "unburnable carbon" that cannot safely be combusted without leading to catastrophic climate change. 

A new study by CCPA economist Marc Lee and SFU graduate student Brock Ellis looks at the implications of unburnable carbon for the Canadian fossil fuel industry and in particular for financial markets and pension funds. The authors argue that Canada is experiencing a "carbon bubble" that must be strategically deflated in the move to a clean energy economy. The study estimates Canada's share of a global carbon budget and finds that, at least 78% of Canada’s proven oil, bitumen, gas, and coal reserves, and 89% of proven-plus-probable reserves would need to remain underground.

Read more about the “carbon bubble” and the authors' recommendations to green Canada’s financial markets in the report, Canada's Carbon Liabilities: The Implications of Stranded Fossil Fuel Assets for Financial Markets and Pension Funds.

Canada's Carbon Liabilities

The Implications of Stranded Fossil Fuel Assets for Financial Markets and Pension Funds

Reports & Studies
Projects & Initiatives: Climate Justice Project

Analysis of the 2013 federal budget

Projects & Initiatives: Alternative Federal Budget

The following CCPA staff, research associates, and Alternative Federal Budget partners have posted their budget analysis on our blog (watch this space—we'll be posting links as they come in):

You can read the CCPA news release in reaction to the federal budget here.

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