Mind the Gap: Gender-Based Income Disparities Among Recent Canadian Post-Secondary Education Graduates

Progress towards closing the gender wage gap has spurred skepticism about its continued presence within contemporary labour markets, to the point where some voices in popular media have disparaged concerns about gender-based income disparities as a manufactured “myth.” Using the 2018 National Graduates Survey for a more “apples-to-apples” comparison of individuals holding similar credentials at an early career and life stage, RIES’s latest report shows that the gap between men and women is smaller than is commonly reported from analysis of raw gaps. However, net differences in the income of recent male and female post-secondary remain highly robust. The report ends with strongly supported policy recommendations intended to continue chipping away at gender-based pay disparities, including the adoption of universal or affordable childcare, incentivizing more balanced household divisions of labour, and illuminating pay disparities in high-gap sectors.Government of Canada’s Adult Learning, Literacy and Essential Skills Program Canadian Research Data Centre Network from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Foundation for Innovation and Statistics Canada