Canadian male graduates ‘earn 44 per cent more than women’

Male university graduates in Canada earn 44 per cent more than their female counterparts, according to a study from researchers at the University of Ottawa.

A study of the tax returns of more than 340,000 graduates from 14 Canadian colleges and universities found that men earn at least two-fifths more than women eight years after graduating. 

The study, “Barista or better? New evidence on the earnings of post-secondary education graduates”, which was conducted in partnership with Statistics Canada, tracked the annual income of graduates between 2005 and 2013.

The UK’s latest Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey also found that women fared significantly worse than men when it came to earnings, with mean salaries of £21,000 and £24,000 respectively.

The Canadian study found that in general graduates earned more than non-graduates, with those holding a bachelor’s degree receiving on average C$4,200 (£2,400) more a year.

Furthermore, each new wave of graduates earned on average C$2,400 more than the graduates the year before, according to the Toronto Star. While those who graduated in 2009 – the year following the global financial crisis – earned about C$3,400, or 7.7 per cent, less than the previous year’s graduates, by 2011 graduate earnings had bounced back to pre-2008 levels, the report found.

The study revealed that engineers, nurses and computer scientists earn the most, with an annual income between C$50,000 to C$60,000 a year straight after leaving university, while engineers can make C$99,000 annually within eight years. In comparison, those with humanities degrees earned C$57,000 on average after eight years.

ellie.bothwell@tesglobal.com