Women in New Westminster are faring better than their counterparts around the region when it comes to the gender pay gap.
Statistics Canada released new income data in July based on the 2021 census. The latest numbers, from 2020, show women in New Westminster with a median employment income of $40,000, compared to $50,800 for men — or 78.7 per cent.
That's better than New Westminster did in 2015, when women's median income ($33,319) stood at just 77.4 per cent of men's ($43,034).
And it's substantially better than both the B.C. and Canadian numbers for 2020, which come in at 67.8 per cent ($31,200 versus $46,000) and 74 per cent ($32,000 versus $43,200), respectively. The Vancouver metropolitan area, meanwhile, comes in at 70.3 per cent ($33,200 versus $47,200).
The New Westminster number shows the smallest gap between men's and women's median incomes among all Greater Vancouver municipalities.
The City of Vancouver follows close behind, at 78.4 per cent, with the City of North Vancouver at 74.8 per cent.
The largest gaps between the genders are found in Anmore, where women's median income sits at just 56.6 per cent of men's, and Langley Township, where it's 56.8 per cent.
The gender pay gap in Metro Vancouver: How your city fares
Women's median employment income as a percentage of men's (income figures in brackets)
The smallest gaps
- New Westminster: 78.7 per cent ($40,000/$50,800)
- Vancouver: 78.4 per cent ($36,400/$46,400)
- City of North Vancouver: 74.8 per cent ($39,200/$52,400)
- Richmond: 74.2 per cent ($28,200/$38,000)
- Burnaby: 72.8 per cent ($33,200/$45,600)
Middle of the pack
- Port Coquitlam: 69.1 per cent ($37,600/$54,400)
- Surrey: 68.7 per cent ($29,400/$42,800)
- Delta: 67.5 per cent ($32,400/$48,000)
- Port Moody: 67.1 per cent ($43,600/$65,000)
- White Rock: 66.8 per cent ($31,000/$46,400)
- Coquitlam: 66.4 per cent ($32,400/$48,800)
- Langley City: 65.6 per cent ($33,600/$51,200)
- District of North Vancouver: 63.7 per cent ($37,200/$58,400)
- Pitt Meadows: 62.8 per cent ($37,200/$59,200)
The largest gaps
- West Vancouver: 59.5 per cent ($25,000/$42,000)
- Maple Ridge: 59.2 per cent ($34,800/$58,800)
- Belcarra: 57.7 per cent ($36,000/$62,400)
- Langley Township: 56.8 per cent ($33,200/$58,400)
- Anmore: 56.6 per cent ($34,400/$60,800)
(Numbers reflect median employment income in 2020, as reported in the 2021 Canadian census.)
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, [email protected]
