The gap between the pay of managers and workers in Canada is the second smallest in the world, an annual global survey by Hay Group has found.
The average Canadian manager garners 2.6 times the salary of the average worker, the survey noted - the smallest gap after Norway. In the United States that gap is 3.7 times, while it's 10 times or more in emerging markets such as Thailand.
"The Canadian gap is a reflection of a more egalitarian philosophy than most countries," Karl Aboud, Hay Group's director of reward consulting in Canada, said in a report released yesterday.
The result reflects less extremes at both ends of the wage scale, added David Sissons, vice-president of the consulting firm.
"In Canada, we tend to have a well-paid lower floor and not as high of a ceiling," he said in an interview.
Other reasons for Canada's low pay gap include the higher preponderance of public service jobs, as well as a relatively small number of highly-competitive global multinationals, he said.
Hay Group's report analyzes data on over 12 million employees to measure the gap in 61 countries. To calculate its rankings, Hay used the market-median base salary for a clerical level worker and for a standard middle-management job.
Canada's pay gap didn't budge between 2006 and 2007, though its ranking moved to second spot from third, and Mr. Sissons doesn't foresee a big shift in the coming year.
The much-ballyhooed U.S. pay gap, meantime, has soared. The disparity between the salaries of managers and clerical workers jumped nearly 20 per cent, making it the third-fastest growing pay gap in the world.
