Accepting a temporary contract also means accepting wage conditions that are often lower than permanent. Statistics Canada unveils the figures and explains the reasons for these differences.
Hourly wage
In June 2017, the average hourly wage for all permanent contracts was $26.86, while it was $20.54 for contract jobs. The difference between temporary contracts and permanent contracts varies according to the type of temporary contract, and also by gender. More specifically, it can be said that the wage gap is smallest between permanent and contract employees and highest between permanent and casual contracts held by men or seasonal contracts attributed to women . These differences incorporate differences related to certain characteristics such as demography, sex, age, level of education, immigrant status, etc.
Weekly wage
Wage differences are smaller between employees who have a temporary contract and those with a permanent contract if it is based on weekly wage and not on hourly wage. The same applies to temporary contracts, especially for young people under 20 years old. Among 15-24 year olds, contract employees in 2017 earned a weekly wage of $473.40 compared to $463.10 (+9.7%) for permanent employees. Such a difference is explained by the lower number of hours worked by temporary employees than by permanent employees.
A difference that has its reasons
This difference in wages between permanent and temporary contracts is explained by three main reasons. First of all, employees with seasonal contracts are less unionized (19%) than those with permanent contracts (32%). Then, the working time is a factor: while respectively 91% and 78% of men and women with a permanent contract work full time, these rates fall to 69% and 52% for men and women working temporarily. Finally, the size of the company is a factor which also determines the wage level and social benefits: 40% of temporary contracts are offered by companies with less than 20 employees while there are always more permanent contracts in the largest organizations: 215 of permanent contracts are offered by companies with 100 to 500 employees, compared to 16% of temporary contracts.