The Gender Pay Gap in the Public Sector: Evidence from the Canadian Labour Force Survey

Abstract

Using the merged Labour Force Survey for the months of March and September from 2006 through 2018, a variety of techniques are employed to address the pay gap for males and females between four definitions of the public sector and the private sector, as well as the gender pay gap within each of these five sectors. It is found that females tend to have higher public sector wage premiums than their male counterparts when comparing within each gender. The gender wage gap within each sector is positive and favours males, most notably in the private sector. Estimates of any wage premiums at the mean cloud differences along the wage distribution.