VICTORIA: The BC division of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today submitted its recommendations to the government-appointed task force studying a possible pay equity law in B.C.'s private sector.

"The CTF supports stronger enforcement of anti-discrimination laws in apple-to-apple comparisons of private sector jobs, but does not support spurious 'equal value' comparisons being imposed on the private sector" said CTF-BC director Mark Milke. "Ironically, the Ontario experience with a similar law suppressed the wages of women who have begun to enter traditionally 'male' job sectors in large numbers, both in white-collar and blue-collar jobs."

The submission: Equal pay for equal work - or for "equal value" can be found by clicking here. These are the highlights:

"Pay equity" - equal pay for work of equal value - is distinct from the concept of equal pay for equal work. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) supports equal pay for equal work.

Pay equity legislation in Ontario has the unintended and perverse result of suppressing wage growth for women who entered previously male-dominated fields, both in blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Just as women have begun to enter male-dominated jobs in large numbers, pay equity legislation threatens to suppress their wage gains in such jobs. This has been the experience in Ontario according to a University of British Columbia study published in 2000.

Where apples to apples comparisons are made - single, university-educated women on average earn $600 more per year than single, university-educated men. As women and men begin to make different choices - to interrupt their careers or to raise children - the average earnings of men and women begin to diverge, and as a result, comparisons begin to be of the "apple-to-orange" variety, not the apple-to-apple variety.

Even the former government - sympathetic to claims of systemic discrimination in the private sector - published statistics that noted that the much-touted "wage gap" between the average earnings of men and women - once other factors such as education and unionization were considered - shrunk from 27% to 13%. Further analysis of the 13% reveals that the statistical assumptions behind the figure are highly questionable and spurious in some cases.

The CTF recommends the government not proceed with legislating equal pay for work of equal value - "pay equity" - in the private sector, as it is statistically questionable and philosophically spurious.

The CTF recommends the government vigorously enforce laws against wage discrimination in clearly identifiable identical jobs. The CTF supports increased and vigorous enforcement against age discrimination in apple-to-apple comparisons, but not apple-to-orange comparisons.