All B.C. employers will need to include transparent wage or salary information on publicly advertised jobs starting in November 2023.

“People deserve equal pay for equal work,” said Kelli Paddon, Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity. “Making sure transparent wage or salary information is included in all job posting helps make sure people are being offered the same pay for the same work. In addition to historic investments in child care and employment-and-skills training, this is another step forward as we continue to take action to address the pay gap.”

Effective Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023, B.C. employers will be required to include salary or wage information on all publicly posted jobs under B.C.’s Pay Transparency Act, which passed into law this year.

The act means B.C. employers are no longer able to ask prospective employees for pay history information or punish employees who disclose their pay to co-workers or potential job applicants.

“Ensuring employers are transparent about workers’ wages is the step we are taking,” said Harry Bains, Minister of Labour. “This, along with other measures such as increasing the general minimum wage and eliminating the unfair liquor-server minimum wage, which impacted mostly women, brings us closer to closing the gender pay gap in B.C.”

While improvements to the pay gap can be seen in recent years, according to Statistics Canada, women in B.C. are paid 17% less than men. The pay gap disproportionately impacts Indigenous women, women from visible minorities and immigrant women. While average hourly wages for men were $35.50 last year, Indigenous women earned an average of $26.74 per hour, visible minority women earned an average of $27.44 per hour and immigrant women earned an average of $28.78 per hour.

“Representing women of recreation, tourism and hospitality, WORTH Association believes the Pay Transparency Act is a positive first step towards a more equitable industry,” said Sloan Vereecken, director at large, Women of Recreation, Tourism & Hospitality. “As our sector faces a labour crisis, we believe this measure will attract and retain more women ensuring they are paid fairly for their work. Pay transparency in B.C. will also help rectify historical wage disparities and empower women to negotiate for fair pay, fostering a more equitable work environment.”

The pay gap likely affects people all along the gender continuum, including non-binary, transgender and Two Spirit people. For this reason, the goal is to ensure the analysis of the pay gap goes beyond the gender binary. B.C. will be the first jurisdiction in Canada to take this approach.

Also starting in November 2023, large and medium-sized employers in B.C. will gradually be required to publicly post reports about their gender-pay gap. This requirement is being introduced in phases so the Province can work with employers and give employers time to prepare, as follows:

• Nov. 1, 2023: BC Public Service Agency and Crown corporations and public agencies with more than 1,000 employees (ICBC, BC Hydro, WorkSafeBC, BC Housing, BC Lottery Corporation and BC Transit)
• Nov. 1, 2024: all employers with 1,000 employees or more
• Nov. 1, 2025: all employers with 300 employees or more
• Nov. 1, 2026: all employers with 50 employees or more

Regulations have been developed to provide employers with more details about new reporting requirements and these will be refined each year based on feedback from employers. In developing these requirements, B.C. is looking at ways demographic data can be safely collected using the Province's gender-and-sex data standard in keeping with the new Anti-Racism Data Act.

Learn More:

To learn about the Pay Transparency Act, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/gender-equity/pay-transparency-laws-in-bc

For guidance on wage or salary information for employers, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/gender-equity/wage-or-salary-information-on-job-postings

To read the news release from March 7, 2023, introducing pay transparency legislation, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023FIN0017-000274

To view Statistics Canada gender-wage statistics for 2022, visit: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410034002

For questions on pay transparency requirements, email paytransparency@gov.bc.ca.