Distribution of hourly wages

One in two employees earns less than $16 an hour

• Although the distribution of hourly wages remains skewed towards the low end of the wage scale, from 1997 to 2003 there was some improvement since relatively fewer employees were at the bottom of the distribution and there were more at the top end. For example, in 1997, 33% of employees earned less than $12 per hour. Six years later that proportion had dropped to 30%. In contrast, the proportion earning $24 or more hourly rose over this period, from 21% to 23%.
• Most of the shift at the low end occurred among people making less than $8 an hour—from 12% of all employees in 1997 to 9% in 2003. This decrease is likely due to general wage increases over time and to increases in minimum wage rates in all provinces. The proportion of employees earning less than $8 an hour varied greatly by province, as 15% to 23% of employees earned this amount in each of the Atlantic provinces, and in Saskatchewan (among the provinces with the lowest minimum wage rates). In British Columbia, the province with the highest minimum wage ($8), only 2% of employees earned less than $8.
• A greater proportion of men than women earned high hourly wages. In 2003, 29% of men earned $24 or more an hour, compared with 17% of women. At the other end of the spectrum, 58% of women earned less than $16 an hour, compared with 41% of men.

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