The Government of New Brunswick's Pay Equity Program for Non-Legislated Sectors

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the results of the Government of New Brunswick’s pay equity program for the non-legislated private sector. The analysis was conducted on behalf of the New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity in order to determine if the Province’s pay equity process for women working in female-dominated employment sectors was just and equitable. Through a review of the relevant documents and literature, the paper highlights major issues with New Brunswick’s pay equity exercise. Using case study, the paper draws attention to and raises questions about significant methodological problems that negatively impacted the results of the pay equity exercise for the participating sectors. While research has been conducted on pay equity legislation in other Canadian jurisdictions, there is a paucity of literature that examines the effectiveness of pay equity exercises in New Brunswick. The paper concludes with recommendations for an equitable pay equity exercise for employees working in traditionally female-dominated jobs.