Can the Workplace Explain Canadian Gender Pay Differentials?

Using matched employee-employer data from the 1999 Workplace and Employee Survey, the contribution of the workplace to gender pay differentials is explored. The inclusion of workplace characteristics and more accurate industry measures tend to increase the component to around 60 percent. The workplace accounts for more of gender pay differentials than the worker. When controls for occupation and industry are excluded, about 10.8 percent and 27.9 percent of the pay gap are explained by worker and workplace characteristics respectively. The corresponding numbers are 18.6 percent and 42.6 percent when industry and occupation are included. However, a significant portion of gender pay differentials remains unexplained.