Quality of employment, 2022
Released: 2023-06-13
Employment plays a vital role in the lives of most Canadians. Besides providing workers with a source of income, employment serves as a key determinant of quality of life. In fact, overall quality of employment has an important impact on worker health and well-being.
To examine ongoing changes in the labour market and their impact on well-being, Statistics Canada has produced the Quality of Employment in Canada publication based on a framework developed by the Expert Group on Quality of Employment of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). This publication draws on several data sources, including a series of regular supplements to the Labour Force Survey that aims to fill data gaps related to quality of employment. The first instalment of the publication was released in 2021 and helped capture the widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various facets of quality of employment in Canada.
Today, 10 analytical articles featuring data up to 2022 are released. These articles explore a new set of quality of employment dimensions, namely: (1) wages by deciles, (2) average weekly working hours, (3) involuntary part-time work, (4) distribution of weekly working hours, (5) night work, (6) evening work, (7) flexible work schedules, (8) commuting time, (9) parental leave, and (10) training participation.
Wage disparities are more pronounced among men
The wages by deciles indicator is one measure under the income and benefits dimension of the UNECE Quality of Employment framework. This indicator captures wage inequality by establishing a ratio between the highest and lowest hourly wages based on deciles. The larger the ratio between the highest to lowest deciles, the greater the wage disparity.
In 2022, employees in the top 10% of the wage distribution had an hourly wage that was at least 3.4 times higher than those in the bottom 10%. There was a larger disparity among men, for whom the ratio between the ninth and the first wage decile was 3.6, while for women, it was 3.3. While the disparities among men are more pronounced, the median wage remained higher for male employees ($29.87) compared with female employees ($25.00). Further, among the top 10% of earners, men earned at least $57.69, while women earned at least $49.45, revealing that the highest-earning male employees tended to earn more than their female counterparts.
Rate of evening work is highest among youth and in the accommodation and food services industry
Working time and work–life balance is another key dimension of the UNECE Quality of Employment framework. Under this dimension, the evening work indicator provides in-depth information on the percentage of employed persons who work regular evening hours. Tracking changes in evening work is important since it can impact workers' ability to maintain a healthy work–life balance by interfering with personal obligations and family life.
In April 2022, 4.8% of workers reported that they had regular evening hours. The accommodation and food services industry (21.8%) had the largest share of workers who typically worked evenings, followed by business, building and other support services (8.4%) and arts, entertainment and recreation (8.0%). Moreover, working in the evening was notably more common among youth aged 15 to 24 years (14.2%), who are more likely to be employed within the accommodation and food services industry.
Chart 1
Proportion of workers aged 15 to 69 years who usually worked a regular evening shift or evening hours, by age group, April 2022
Note to readers
Data and analyses published as part of the Quality of employment in Canada (14280001) publication cover different periods depending on the sources available. The most recent year for this release is 2022. New and updated data and analyses will be released regularly as part of this publication.
The main data source for this publication is the Labour Force Survey (LFS). While the main objective of the LFS is to provide information on the labour force characteristics of the population, it also includes information on a wide variety of dimensions of quality of employment.
As part of its Labour Market Indicators program, Statistics Canada collects additional data on quality of employment through monthly and quarterly LFS supplementary questionnaires. Results from these questionnaires are used to fill data gaps and track changes in a wider range of quality of employment indicators.
For more information, please see the Quality of Employment in Canada page.
Products
The publication "Quality of Employment in Canada" (14280001) has been updated with 10 additional articles.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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