Analysis
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In 2009/2010, there were 44,423 full-time faculty at Canadian degree-granting institutions. Of these, 14,718 (33.1%) were full professors, 14,941 (33.6%) were associate professors, 10,591 (23.8%) were assistant professors and 4,173 (9.4%) were unranked. These proportions have remained relatively stable over the past 20 years.
Compared to 2008/2009, the number of full-time faculty increased by 5.9%. This increase is primarily due to the inclusion of several new universities in 2009/2010. 1 The analysis of trends over time that follows excludes the institutions that were new to the survey in 2009/2010.
Table 1 of this report presents information for institutions that have greater than 100 staff. The information includes the following for each institution: the number of full-time teaching staff; the number of staff excluded from salary calculations; average and median salary; and salaries at the 10th and 90th percentiles. Although data are collected for institutions that have less than 100 staff and are included in the analysis, they are excluded from Table 1 for reasons of confidentiality.
Among the 116 Canadian degree-granting institutions reporting in both 2008/2009 and 2009/2010, the number of full-time faculty increased by 1.5%, with 74% of them reporting gains. Increases occurred in all provinces, with the largest being in Saskatchewan (4.0%), Manitoba (2.5%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (2.4%).
The increase in full-time faculty was not distributed evenly across either rank or sex. Between 2008/2009 and 2009/2010, the number of full professors increased by 2.3%, associate professors, by 3.6%, and the rank below assistant professor, by 16.6%. However, the number of assistant professors decreased by 4.5% and the number of "Other staff" fell by almost one third (30.2%). The increase in full-time faculty was concentrated among females, with their numbers increasing by 3.7%, whereas the number of males was almost unchanged.
Women account for a minority of faculty; however, their proportion has risen steadily over the past 20 years. In 1989/1990, women comprised less than 20% of faculty; by 2009, their share had reached 35.6 % (Chart 1). The share of women grew within all ranks. In 2009/2010, women accounted for 22.8% of full professors, 37.5% of associate professors and 45.7% of assistant professors. This stands in contrast to 20 years earlier, when women comprised just 7.2% of full professors, 18.5% of associate professors and 32.0% of assistant professors.
Within the ranked categories, the overwhelming majority of full-time teaching staff held a PhD in 2009/2010: 88.4% of full professors, 85.6% of associate professors and 77.3% of assistant professors. However, in the "rank below assistant" category, only 30.7% of staff held a PhD, 48.7% had a Master's degree and 7.5% had a Bachelor's degree.
The average salary of full-time teaching staff was $113,407 in 2009/2010, compared to $108,643 in 2008/2009, an increase of 4.4%. In 2009/2010, a full professor earned $139,861, on average; associate professors earned $109,535; assistant professors earned $88,932; and the average salary of those in the category " rank below assistant" was $85,386. The increase in average salary between 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 was greatest for the category "rank below assistant," which increased by 7.7%.
Average salaries differed by sex. In 2009/2010, the average male earned $118,145, while the average female earned $104,832, or 89% of the average male salary. The difference between men and women is largely influenced by the larger number of males at the higher academic ranks.
The male/female salary gap narrows when within-rank comparisons between males and females are made. Among full professors in 2009/2010, full-time males earned $141,521, on average, while females earned 95% of that ($134,238). The average salary of female associate professors was 97% that of males (at $107,324 and $110,863, respectively), and that of female assistant professors was 98% that of males (at $87, 945 and $89,761, respectively). In the "rank below assistant" professors, the average female salary was 97% that of males (at $84,026 and $87,054, respectively).
The overall wage gap between men and women has narrowed over time as women have come to occupy higher ranks in higher proportions. Whereas women academic staff earned 89% of what males earned in 2009/2010, that figure was 82% in 1989/1990.
There were some differences across provinces. In 2009/2010, the average salary ranged from $98,814 in Nova Scotia to $124,502 in Alberta.
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