Months after B.C.’s Pay Transparency Act came into effect, some B.C. companies are still dragging their heels when it comes to compliance.
The new legislation requires that, as of Nov. 1, all provincially regulated employers in B.C. must include the expected salary range in publicly advertised positions.
However, nearly a quarter of job posts for positions in the province missed the salary information, according to a recently released report from job site Indeed, which examined job posts on its site in February.
“The share of B.C. postings mentioning pay jumped from 49 per cent in Q3 2023 to 76 per cent in February 2024 following a … law requiring posted salary transparency,” reads the report.
Positions in personal care and home health, as well as community and social service saw the highest percentage in job postings — more than 80 per cent — that include salary information. Job postings for these positions were more inclined to include pay information than others even before the Pay Transparency Act.
Physician and surgeon positions were least likely to include salary information, with less than 40 per cent of the job posts including the pay range in February. It's followed by job posts for banking and finance positions with slightly more than 40 per cent that listed pay information.
Civil engineering positions saw the largest growth in the number of job posts that include salary information, rising from less than 20 per cent before the Pay Transparency Act to 60 per cent after the act came into effect.
“As of February 2024, no more than 90 per cent of postings in any single occupation analyzed included salary data – a sign that there is still room to grow and that some employers are not yet fully compliant with the new requirements,” reads the report.
The report also showed more postings now advertise salary information across the country — nearly half of Canadian job postings mentioned pay in February, up from 22 per cent in 2019.
However, the pay range has become wider — the median gap between low and high wage estimates rose to 18 per cent in early 2024, up from 10 per cent five years earlier in Canada, and pay ranges tend to be wider among higher-paying occupations, according to the report.
The B.C. Ministry of Finance’s gender equity office said it recognizes that employers continue to adjust to the new requirements and there is no enforcement yet.
“Compliance and enforcement measures can be added to the legislation if it is deemed necessary,” said a statement to the BIV from the office.
Some of the jobs posted on Indeed are from federally regulated employers, which are not required to follow provincial job posting requirements, according to the ministry. This includes banks, airports, postal and carrier services, radio and television broadcasting, railways, telecommunications and a few others.
For companies headquartered outside the province or country, they still need to comply with the Pay Transparency Act when it comes to their B.C. employees, the ministry said.
"The requirement also applies to jobs advertised outside of B.C. if the position is open to B.C. residents to apply and may be filled by someone living in B.C., either in person or remotely," the ministry said.
