October 2023
Mind the Gap is part of the portfolio of work by the Future Skills Centre, which is funded by the Government of Canada’s Future Skills Program.
Bold idea: The significant compensation disparity between Canadian and American tech workers calls for renewed efforts to scale Canadian tech companies.
Canada risks being left behind when it comes to its investment in the technology economy. For over two decades, there has been little change in who makes up tech workers in Canada.1 One key component in our quest to catch up is the ability to attract and retain top tech talent to work in Canada. Yet the prevailing narrative cites fierce competition from US-based companies, who can afford to out-bid Canadian tech companies in compensation offers.
In this study, we carefully examine this claim, combining reliable data sources on tech pay in both countries, and adjusting for a host of factors, including purchasing power, cost of living, and compositional components. We show that the tech pay gap is present, is large, but is not simple. In particular, we find that:
With the recent downturn in the tech sector and news of major layoffs even within tech giants, a window has opened that may allow Canadian companies to hire talent that will fuel its tech economy, given the sheer number of tech giants across the border. In particular, many of these talents come from large companies after they have scaled from their startup phase, the kind of “growth talent” that has often been cited as a crucial factor in allowing tech companies to scale and improve productivity.
How does Canada achieve pay competitiveness? To revel in lower wages and celebrate a downturn that would facilitate them would be the wrong focus. At the same time, the factors around pay raises are complicated, as tech pay often consists of more than salary compensation, and includes forms of compensation that are difficult to value. We also must not, in the name of compensation competitiveness, exacerbate pay inequity, for which we have a competitive advantage. We therefore recommend focusing on two paths simultaneously to ensure the tech sector in Canada has the talent it needs to grow:
Inclusive of all work types (full-time or part-time, full-year or part-year, or if a worker has a job but did not work during the year due to being on leave), we compare the wages of the typical tech worker (the tech worker at the median of the wage distribution) and typical non-tech worker (the median of the wage distribution for all other occupations not classified as a tech job) in both countries. A typical tech worker in Canada makes $83,700 in annual wages, almost twice as much as a typical non-tech worker (who makes $46,300). In comparison, the typical tech worker in the US makes $122,600 compared to $51,800 for the typical non-tech worker, which is over twice as much. This equates to a tech worker in the US making 46 percent more than a tech worker in Canada.
A typical tech worker in Canada makes $83,700 in annual wages, almost twice as much as a typical non-tech worker (who makes $46,300). In comparison, the typical tech worker in the US makes $122,600 compared to $51,800 for the typical non-tech worker, which is over twice as much. This equates to a tech worker in the US making 46 percent more than a tech worker in Canada.
Differences in work status could contribute to some of the variation in annual wages for tech workers in Canada and the US. A higher proportion of tech workers in the US work full-time and full year (FT39/FY40) compared to tech workers in Canada (86 percent in the US compared to 74 percent in Canada).41 However, it is useful to take into account this gap in FT/FY work when analyzing wage outcomes in aggregate, as it may signify a higher likelihood of flexible work arrangements in Canada. Furthermore, some demographic groups are observed to be more likely to work outside of a FT/FY capacity; this is also a consideration when understanding wage outcomes as societal and cultural norms may contribute to some of the observed discrepancies in labour market outcomes.
That being said, there continues to be a large annual wage gap between tech workers in the US and Canada when we only consider (FT/FY) workers. A typical tech worker in Canada who works FT/FY makes around $94,800 in annual wages, compared to tech workers in the US who makes $129,700. The tech wage gap between the countries equals $34,800 in annual wages between tech workers in the US and Canada. In other words, the typical FT/FY tech worker in the US makes 37 percent more in annual wages than the typical FT/FY tech worker in the Canada. Interestingly, annual wages for non-tech FT/FY workers in Canada are slightly higher than for non-tech workers in the US (after the PPP adjustment), with the difference in annual wages being no more than $1,000.
In the previous section, we began exploring the components of this wage gap by first understanding how the composition of full-time work contributes. We now further decompose this by looking at how the gender division in tech across two countries contributes to this gap. We find that a relatively larger gender gap exists in the US for tech workers compared to Canada, which may contribute to some of the variation in the tech wage gap. For all work types (full-time or part-time, full-year or part-year), the typical male tech worker in Canada makes $86,600 annually, which is around $12,600 more than the typical female tech worker, who earns around $74,000 annually. This equates to a male tech worker making 17 percent more than their female counterparts. Even subsetting for FT/FY workers only, the typical female tech worker makes close to $10,000 less than the typical male tech worker, a difference of 11 percent in annual wages.
For all work types (full-time or part-time, full-year or part-year), the typical male tech worker in Canada makes $86,600 annually, which is around $12,600 more than the typical female tech worker, who earns around $74,000 annually.
In the US, the typical male tech worker makes an annual wage of $129,700, compared to $103,100 for the typical female tech worker. In other words, a male tech worker on average earns 26 percent more than a female tech worker, or close to $26,600 less annually. There continues to be a gender gap when looking at FT/FY workers only; the typical female tech worker makes $14,600 less than their male counterparts, or a 13 percent difference.
Gender differences in FT/FY work across countries are stark; in Canada, 71 percent of women in tech worked FT/FY, compared to 83 percent in the US. Similarly, 77 percent of men in tech in Canada worked FT/FY compared to 88 percent in the United States.42 While this is likely driven by a combination of country-specific factors, this difference in FT/FY status in both countries for both men and women could be partially driven by the availability of parental leave benefits for workers in Canada. While partially-paid parental leave up to 52 weeks is federally mandated in Canada,43 this is not the case in the United States, where the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides at most 12 weeks of unpaid leave.44 Some of the largest tech companies such as Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft provide between 20 and 24 weeks of paid leave.45 Women have lower participation in the labour force than men,46 47 which can be assumed to be partially driven by their being primary caretakers for children. While the specific magnitude of this impact is unknown for female tech workers, it is important to recognize the role of these responsibilities on broader labour market outcomes.
Post-secondary education between countries is one of the largest drivers in the tech wage gap observed across the US and Canada. A substantial wage gap for the typical tech worker between both countries is observed for those with a Bachelor’s degree or above. However, the overall distribution in wages according to education credential is much larger in the US, which signifies higher wage inequality, especially for those without a post-secondary education.
The most common type of education credential for a tech worker is a Bachelor’s degree, with 46.6 percent of tech workers having obtained this credential. The typical tech worker in Canada with a Bachelor’s degree makes $88,500 a year, compared to the $122,600 in annual wages that a typical tech worker with a Bachelor’s degree in the US makes. This amounts to a difference of around $34,100 a year.
This wage difference between Canada and the US continues to increase with each level of education; the difference in annual wages for a typical tech worker with a Master’s or Doctoral degree is around $50,000 or more. For tech workers in the US, having a Master’s or Doctoral degree is attributed to higher wages compared to having a Bachelor’s degree. While the same is true in Canada, having a Master’s or Doctoral degree does not have as large of a wage difference compared to having a Bachelor’s degree compared to tech workers in the US. The typical tech worker in the US with a Master’s degree makes $141,500 a year, which is $18,900 more annually than the typical tech worker with a Bachelor’s degree. In Canada, the difference in wages for a typical tech worker with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree is only $4,500. The wage premium for a Master’s degree in Canada for a tech worker is less than that of a typical non-tech worker; a non-tech worker with a Master’s degree earns $11,000 more in annual wage compared to a non-tech worker with a Bachelor’s degree.
The overall distribution in wages according to education credential is much larger in the US, which signifies higher wage inequality, especially for those without a postsecondary education.
Unlike tech workers in Canada, the difference between having no degree or high school diploma (having their highest education credential as less than a high school diploma) and having a high school diploma in the US is large. High school graduates in tech make over twice as much as tech workers with no degree or high school diploma. In Canada, the typical tech worker with no degree or high school diploma has higher wages than the typical tech worker with a high school diploma in Canada. This could be due to selection bias for tech workers who do not have any degree, as they likely have exceptional skills (either self-taught or through other non-institutional resources) which allow them to succeed in the tech industry. Furthermore, a small sample size may distort results, as less than half a percent of tech workers do not have any degree or high school diploma, compared to 10 percent who have high school diplomas as their highest education credential. The difference in annual wages for tech workers with a high school degree to what tech workers without any degree or high school diploma receive are no more than a $4,000 difference. This is not observed for non-tech workers, where the median high school graduate earns over $8,000 more.
When we deconstruct tech wages by racial identity, similar patterns emerge across countries. Tech workers in both Canada and the US who are South Asian, Chinese, or Japanese consistently make more in annual wages than other racial groups. In the US, the typical tech worker who is South Asian, Chinese, or Japanese makes among the highest annual wages, making upwards of $160,000. In Canada, the typical tech workers in these groups earn upwards of $83,000 in annual wages, which is amongst the highest across all racial identities. In contrast, the typical tech worker in the US who is Black, American Indian and/or Alaskan Native, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander makes the lowest annual wages, making less than $100,000. In Canada, the median wages are the lowest for tech workers who are Black, Arab or Filipino, making less than $77,000 annually.
The distribution of tech wages in the US by racial identity is much larger than Canada. The difference between the racial identity with the highest and lowest median annual wages is over $70,000 in the US (greater than the median annual wage for non-tech workers), while in Canada this range is around $20,000. This inequity in the wage distribution in the US is not unique to tech workers; for non-tech workers, the racial group with highest median annual wages earns over twice as much as the racial group with the lowest annual wages. Furthermore, there is evidence that wage inequality is increasing in the US. The gap between the median Black and White workers’ wages in 2019 was 24.4 percent; this gap was between 32 and 42 percent in 2021.48 Though US tech wages in general are higher than Canadian tech wages, this exemplifies how opportunities are not always equally distributed. While differences in FT/FY work could play a part in the unequal distribution of wages, an examination of other contributors to the observed disparity in economic outcomes could include access to education, seniority/experience, participation by industry, and discrimination, among others.
The distribution of tech wages in the US by racial identity is much larger than Canada. The difference between the racial identity with the highest and lowest median annual wages is over $70,000 in the US (greater than the median annual wage for non-tech workers), while in Canada this range is around $20,000.
While inequities exist within the tech industry across both countries, these effects are often layered. Breaking down the economic outcomes of various groups helps outline the nuances in the barriers that different groups face within the labour market. For example, a tech worker who is a woman, a visible minority, and has a college education has different barriers to the labour market than a tech worker who is a man with the same credentials and visible minority status. Additionally, economic outcomes could look different for the same group across the US and Canada. Even in tech, where wages often far exceed non-tech occupations, it is observed that these higher wages are not always homogeneously distributed, as exemplified with the earlier descriptive analysis comparing tech wages across gender, education, and racial identity. Conducting a regression analysis allows us to understand how various demographic characteristics interact within each country, and isolate the incremental wage impact or wage premium, which is the increased amount in wages attributed to a certain characteristic. We can then understand the true proportion of the tech wage gap attributable to working in the US over Canada.
Breaking down the economic outcomes of various groups helps outline the nuances in the barriers that different groups face within the labour market. For example, a tech worker who is a woman, a visible minority, and has a college education has different barriers to the labour market than a tech worker who is a man with the same credentials and visible minority status.
First, we analyze the wage premium associated with working in a tech occupation in the US. After controlling for gender, education credential, and work type, the isolated premium of working in tech in the US has a $30,700 annual wage premium over working in tech in Canada. This is over two-and-a-half times as large as the premium from working in the US in a non-tech occupation ($11,900).
Women continue to be paid less than men in tech, even after controlling for work type and education. This gender gap exists for both tech and non-tech occupations, and is greater in the US compared to Canada. In the US, the attribution of being a woman in tech is associated with $25,000 less in annual wages compared to men in tech; in Canada, this gap is $15,700. In percentage terms, the incremental gender gap in annual wages between men and women in tech is -19.5 percent in Canada, and -24.4 percent in the US.
In percentage terms, the incremental gender gap in annual wages between men and women in tech is -19.5 percent in Canada, and -24.4 percent in the US.
While the gender gap exists in both tech and non-tech occupations, the gap in tech is larger. The incremental gender gap in Canada is $5,300 greater in tech than in non-tech occupations (or a difference of two percentage points), while this gap is around $8,000 greater in tech compared to non-tech in the US (or 4.7 percent). Though tech workers as a whole earn more than non-tech workers, inequities that exist in the broader labour market persist. Participation for women in tech as a whole is considerably lower as well. As of 2022, women make up 28 percent of the tech industry workforce in the US,49 which contributes to the inequity in the distribution of the prosperity of the sector as a whole. Additional data around attributes such as work experience could help understand where these inequities stem from, and provide insights on whether opportunities for career advancement could be inequitably distributed in tech.
Across both countries, workers in tech occupations have an increasing and positive wage premium to post-secondary education (Bachelor’s degree or above). However, in both countries, a high school or college diploma does not have a statistically significant wage premium compared to not having any degree or high school diploma in tech. This is in contrast to non-tech occupations, where there is a statistically significant incremental wage premium over having no degree or high school diploma for every level of education.
Higher education in the US yields a significantly greater wage premium in the US over Canada. For tech worker occupations in Canada, the incremental wage premium to a Bachelor’s degree or above is lower than for non-tech workers in Canada. But for the US, the opposite is true; higher education nets significantly larger returns at every level for workers in the tech sector compared to non-tech sectors. At a Bachelor’s degree level, the incremental return for workers in tech in the US is $51,600, which is around $23,000 more than for non-tech workers. In Canada, the incremental return in tech for a Bachelor’s degree is around $11,900, which is around $4,100 less than for workers not in tech. Furthermore, the gap between US and Canada for incremental returns to a Bachelor’s degree for workers in tech is significant; workers in tech in the US have a $39,700 higher incremental return for their Bachelor’s degree than tech workers in Canada. This gap only increases for Master’s and Doctoral level education ($60,100 and $88,700, respectively).
The implications of the gap in the incremental wage premium by education contribute to the struggles in relative competitiveness of the Canadian tech labour market. For workers with higher credentials, the opportunity cost of working in tech in Canada over the US, spurred by higher pay inequity associated with having higher levels of formal credentials, means it becomes particularly challenging to retain such workers in the country. Furthermore, higher wages have a compounding effect, given the impact on career wage progressions. There is also evidence that US tech firms hire more STEM graduates with higher education: 78 percent of tech workers in the US have a Bachelor’s degree or above, compared to 68 percent in Canada. A greater demand for tech workers with higher education and the attraction of higher salaries create alluring incentives for tech workers in Canada to work in the US.
However, in both countries, a high school or college diploma does not have a statistically significant wage premium compared to not having any degree or high school diploma in tech. This is in contrast to non-tech occupations, where there is a statistically significant incremental wage premium over having no degree or high school diploma for every level of education.
Examining the incremental racial gap reveals large inequities across both countries. While the majority of racial minority groups in Canada50 who are not working in tech have a significant incremental racial wage gap compared to their White counterparts, the wage dynamics for tech workers is distinct. Only Arab, Black, and South Asian workers in tech in Canada make incrementally less than White workers in tech (ranging from -$8,000 to -$10,000 in annual wages), while Japanese workers in tech and non-tech make anywhere from $10,000 to $18,000 more incrementally in annual wages compared to their White counterparts in Canada. The wage gap for Arab and South Asian tech workers is notable, given those identity groups are overrepresented in the tech workforce, relative to the share of the general (non-tech worker) population. In Canada, South Asians represent 15.8 percent of the tech workforce, whereas there is only a 7.1 percent share of South Asians in the general (non-tech worker) Canadian workforce. Further, Arabs represent 2.5 percent of the tech workforce, and only 1.5 percent of the general (non-tech worker) workforce.
In the US, Black and Indigenous51 tech workers make incrementally less than White52 workers in tech, at a magnitude between -$18,000 to -$20,000 in annual wages. However, among the lowest-paid groups in the US are Latin American (or Latino) tech workers, who are paid close to $32,000 incrementally less than the average White tech worker in the US. This corresponds with wage outcomes for the group as a whole, as Latino non-tech workers in the US are paid close to $22,000 incrementally less than White non-tech workers in the US.
Black workers consistently have incrementally lower wage outcomes compared with their White peers, whether in tech or non-tech occupations, and across countries. In addition to lower incremental wage outcomes, Black tech workers are also underrepresented in tech. According to the Black Professionals In Tech Network (BPTN), an estimation of 8,725 Black tech workers were under-utilized in the tech workforce in Canada in 2016, which could grow to 33,000 by 2024.53 This has been observed in the US as well; although 12 percent of the workforce is Black, only eight percent of tech jobs are filled by Black workers, with growth in Black workers in tech forecasted to fall behind overall tech job growth in the next decade.54 Furthermore, research has found that wage growth in the US since 1979 was slower for Black workers as well compared with White workers (5.3 percent versus 20 percent). Educated Black workers were not insulated from wage inequality, with real average wage growth between 2015 and 2019 declining for Black workers with a Bachelor’s degree.55
The jobless rate as well as formal post-secondary educational attainment for Latino and Hispanic and Black workers are higher in the US.56 57 Examining barriers to educational attainment for these groups could support pathways to tech careers, as this correlates with an underrepresentation within the tech labour force and hiring. Racially, 8.1 percent of tech workers identify as Latino (despite representing 18.9 percent of the total population) and 6.4 percent identify as Black (despite representing 13.6 percent of the total population).58 59 The lack of Black or Latino representation in leadership in tech and venture capital firms could also potentially contribute to lower economic outcomes for these groups in tech, when analyzing a top-down approach to advocating and supporting greater economic outcomes for these groups.60 The consistently lower economic outcomes to Latino or Hispanic and Black workers speak to the overarching disparity in not just labour market outcomes in both countries, but the lack of diversity within the tech ecosystem overall, which is both a microcosm of and exacerbated by existing labour market issues.
Similar to labour market outcomes for Black workers, the lower incremental wage outcomes of Indigenous workers in tech may be part of a wider issue in labour market outcomes for this group. Indigenous people in the US have lower rates of attainment for higher education credentials, lower rates of labour market participation, and higher rates of disability compared with White workers.61 And while incremental returns to Indigenous workers in Canada was not analyzed due to the lack of data, research has shown that wage outcomes and participation in tech and the overall labour market are lower compared to non-Indigenous workers.62 Labour market discrimination and barriers to participation should be analyzed firstly as a systemic issue within the entire context of the labour market, before addressing the specificities of the inequalities within the tech sector.
The wage attribution to being South Asian as a tech worker in the US is significantly larger than White workers in tech, which contrasts the findings in the Canadian data set for this group. An estimated 38 percent of technical roles in Silicon Valley’s top 20 firms are filled by Asian workers, with South Asian workers being the second-largest group in tech companies across the US (second to White workers).63 Furthermore, South Asian entrepreneurs have built many successful technology companies from the ground-up in the US; India is the leading country of origin for entrepreneurs of billion-dollar start-up companies founded in the US in 2022, at 66 companies.64 The disparity in wage outcomes for South Asian tech workers across countries underlines how the success of this group is not generalizable across countries, as circumstances and experiences vary. It also speaks to the need to analyze racial disparities in labour market outcomes separately, as experiences and barriers for one group are distinct.
The incremental racial wage gap across both countries signifies that providing equitable opportunities is two-fold; having a greater number of visible minorities and underrepresented groups in tech is not equitable within itself if these workers are not provided the same opportunities to achieve and earn as much as their peers in the industry.
It is also important to note that while gender has been accounted for in this regression, work type (FT/FY compared to part-time or part-year) has not been included in this regression. While it is possible that certain racialized groups are more likely to work part-year or part-time, further research is needed to understand the attribution of the availability of FT/FY work opportunities for these groups in explaining the disparity in incremental wage premiums. This would incorporate a better understanding of whether there are more pertinent barriers that restrict upward economic mobility for these workers.
Having a greater number of visible minorities and underrepresented groups in tech is not equitable within itself if these workers are not provided the same opportunities to achieve and earn as much as their peers in the industry.
While wages for tech workers vary between the US and Canada, wages fluctuate depending on the geographic area as well. Certain areas that have a more prominent tech presence (known as “tech hubs”) provide advantages over working in other non-tech hub areas.65 Research by Moretti (2019) found that agglomeration and clustering effects support knowledge spillovers, attract larger talent pools, and boost innovation.66 To analyze the impact on tech workers’ wages of being in a tech hub, we assign a tech hub status to metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas across both US and Canada based on CBRE’s market profiles of tech cities.67 Tech hubs are analyzed based on thirteen metrics, with the concentration of tech talent available the largest consideration. Other considerations include tech diversity, tech degree completion and enrollment, costs to operate for tech companies, and cost of living for tech workers. In total, the top 25 tech hubs were identified (with 20 in the US and 5 in Canada).68 For robustness, the regression was conducted with the top five tech hubs in each country, and again with all 25 tech hubs; the results between the two regressions were similar, and the findings remained relatively unchanged. The results with the top 25 tech hubs across both countries will be presented in this section.
Although being in an area that we’ve designated as a tech hub tends to be correlated with higher costs of living, shelter costs are factored in as well to understand whether there is a significant wage premium attached to geographic variations in household costs between areas. Average monthly shelter costs (which include mortgage payments, rent costs, utilities, etc.) are calculated for each area inferred from regional price parities in the US and 2021 census data in Canada.
Data for housing costs were retrieved from Statistics Canada and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average monthly shelter costs (including costs to rent and costs of ownership) is estimated for each Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and Nonmetropolitan areas in the US, and census metropolitan area (CMA) and census agglomerations (CA) in Canada. As in 2021, housing and shelter costs make up one-third of total expenditures for the average US household,69 and 22.8 percent for the average household in Canada;70 this is assumed to capture the bulk of regional variations in cost of living.71
After factoring in the tech hubs definition for each jurisdiction, we found that tech workers who are working in a tech hub in the US make a premium of $7,500 over those in a non-tech hub jurisdiction. However, working in a tech hub in Canada does not yield significant returns over working in a non-tech hub jurisdiction. Non-tech workers in the US also make a premium in working in areas that are designated as tech hubs, but not at the magnitude of tech workers ($4,650, compared to $7,500 for tech workers in tech hubs). This implies that agglomeration effects in tech hub cities are not specific to just tech industries.
Finally, we explore the compensation impact of living in a jurisdiction with higher housing costs. Specifically, we focus on the net-pay increase associated with every $100 increase in housing costs. That is, what is the pay premium associated with moving from a city where one pays $1,600 in rent, to a city where one pays $1,700 in rent?
We find that in Canada, such a move is associated with an increase of $2,850 in annual wages for a tech worker. This at first glance is much larger than the $1,300 increase in annual wages to a tech worker in the US. However, we also need to keep in mind that shelter costs across the US have a wider range compared to Canada. The average monthly shelter cost in Canada ranges from $700 to $2,350 across all areas (with a standard deviation of $300), compared to a range of $1,050 to $5,650 in the US (with a standard deviation of $670). A worker who works in the area with the highest average monthly shelter costs in Canada (Wood Buffalo, Alberta) pays 1.7 times more than the national average, whereas a worker in the US area with the highest shelter costs (San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara) pays over twice the national average. This implies that in aggregate, it is likely that wage premiums to shelter costs are larger for tech workers in large US tech hubs such as San Francisco and Seattle compared to Canadian tech hubs such as Toronto and Vancouver, even if inter-city variations in shelter cost premiums are lower in the US.
As an example, the national average monthly shelter cost in Canada was $1,402 in 2021, whereas the average monthly shelter cost in Toronto was $1,936 (a $534 difference). This implies that a worker in tech who works in Toronto makes a premium of $15,250 over the average tech worker in Canada. Comparatively, the national average monthly shelter cost in the US was $2,360 in 2021, compared to $5,020 in San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley. This indicates that roughly $34,000 in wages of a worker in tech in San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley can be attributed to working in the metropolitan area when compared to the average tech worker across the US.
The combination of these results implies that while tech wages in Canada are compensated depending on shelter costs in an area, the agglomeration effects of being in a Canadian tech hub does not translate into higher wages and compensation. However, in the US, tech workers not only make a premium on higher shelter costs, but also have significant wage premiums attributed to working in areas with large tech networks. Though tech hubs capture some variation in the cost of living between areas, wage premiums continue to be significant for tech workers in the US, which is larger than wage premiums to working in the US for the average non-tech worker. After factoring in variation in shelter costs and the tech hubs in both countries, it is observed that the wage differential attributed to being in the US over Canada on tech workers’ wages decreases to $15,800.
In aggregate, it is likely that wage premiums to shelter costs are larger for tech workers in large US tech hubs such as San Francisco and Seattle compared to Canadian tech hubs such as Toronto and Vancouver, even if inter-city variations in shelter cost premiums are lower in the US.
As employment wages only capture a part of the benefits a tech worker receives, other types of benefits such as equity and stock options, refresh grants, and incentive pay for tech workers should be quantified. In addition, other factors and types of non-employer compensation that could affect a tech worker’s decision on where to work could include health and dental benefits, tax rates, vacation days, and more. A high-level overview will compare and contrast these factors across the two countries.
Using data from Option Impact by Pave,72 73 we quantified three types of non-wage compensation for tech workers in the US and Canada.
Non-founder and non-executive employees in establishments of over 10 employees were examined according to jobs encompassing 85 occupations of varying levels of seniority.75 76 Between 8,000 and 31,000 employees (depending on the compensation type) in the US were examined, and 900 to 5,000 employees (depending on the compensation type) in Canada for the timeframe spanning 2021 to 2022. A weighted average of the fiftieth percentile of non-wage earnings was calculated for each country and compensation type.
Tech workers in the US received higher non-wage compensation across all three types analyzed. The median tech worker in the US received 41 percent higher refresh grants than the median tech worker in Canada. Incentive pay was also greater in the US to a similar degree, with the median tech worker in the US receiving 43 percent higher incentive pay compensation than the median tech worker in Canada. However, the largest difference in non-wage compensation stems from value from equities/stock options. The median tech worker in the US is compensated with over twice as much in equity value than the median tech worker in Canada. This is a byproduct of the market capitalization of US tech companies far exceeding the value of Canadian tech firms. Meta (formerly Facebook), Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet (formerly Google) together known as FAANG77 companies account for 21 percent of the S&P 500 index, amounting to over $9 trillion CAD in 2023.78 79 In comparison, the entire S&P/TSX index is valued at $4.2 trillion CAD.80 Shopify, the largest Canadian tech company, is valued at $111 billion CAD;81 this is contrasted with Apple, the largest US tech company, having a market capitalization of over $3 trillion CAD.82 The findings from analyzing these three types of non-wage compensation tells us that while there is a significant gap in wages between the US and Canada for annual wages, it is most likely severely understated.
In addition, the distribution of the weighted averages spanning the twenty-fifth percentile tech worker compared to the seventy-fifth percentile tech worker in the US was also greater compared to Canada for non-wage earnings, as seen in Table 1. This matches up with the finding that there is higher inequity in pay in the US, which we covered in the earlier wage compensation section.
The largest difference in non-wage compensation stems from value from equities/stock options. The median tech worker in the US is compensated with over twice as much in equity value than the median tech worker in Canada.
25th to 75th percentile ($CAD)
| Type of compensation | Canada | US |
|---|---|---|
| Last refresh grant | $14,200 - $91,400 | $23,200 - $116,500 |
| Target incentive pay | $15,400 - $29,600 | $10,300 - $19,100 |
| Total gross equity value | $30,200 - $233,100 | $41,200 - $425,600 |
Although incentive bonuses, equities, and refresh grants are among the largest components of non-wage compensation, a sample of other types of non-wage compensation is presented and compared below to help understand potential drivers of a tech workers’ decision on where to work.
| Type of compensation | US | Canada | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health insurance | Though the US does not have universal health care coverage as Canada does, many employers in tech offer competitive health care coverage, which could come in the form of medical, dental, and vision coverage, which the employer may pay partially or fully. Top employers offer access to provider networks83 84 such as Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), which provide coverage for certain services defined within the plan’s network. While this often does not fully cover all costs of health care, some tech companies cover premiums and deductibles as well. | Basic coverage for Canadians is publicly funded and free. This covers services that are deemed “medically necessary,”85 which could include hospital visits and stays, doctor visits for preventative check-ups, ambulance services, etc.86 For offerings not covered under the public system, many companies offer partial coverage for dental services, prescription drugs, mental health, etc. | While tech workers are likely to have lower insurance premiums than the average American, overall Canadians pay less for health care coverage compared to the US in 2021 ($8,563 CAD per capita in Canada87 compared to $16,182 CAD per capita in the US,88 or a difference of around $7,600 CAD). Self-employed tech workers in Canada are provided private health insurance premiums under Canada’s public health care system. |
| Remote work | Many tech companies have offered remote work as an option pre-pandemic. However, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of flexible work arrangements, which has become an important consideration for many tech workers. A 2022 survey of tech workers found that 85 percent of tech workers in the US conduct their job partially or fully remotely, with 48 percent working entirely remotely.89 90 Major tech companies headquartered in Silicon Valley such as Meta, Dropbox, and Airbnb offer fully-remote arrangements, though some companies may adjust compensation depending on employee location.91 | A survey by the TAP Network in 2022 found that 99 percent of Canadian tech companies provide workers the option to work partially or fully remotely. In addition, 78 percent of Canadian tech companies allow workers to live interprovincially, and 40 percent to work internationally.92 93 94 Canadian tech companies have led the way in offering remote work, with Shopify as one of the first tech companies announcing at the start of the pandemic its intentions of providing remote work to all employees indefinitely.95 | There is no concrete evidence that remote work offerings from tech companies vary much between the two countries, as there is an abundance of tech companies that offer hybrid and fully-remote work options. The nature of remote work provides the ability for workers to perform their jobs across borders. Conceivably, a Canadian resident could be employed at an American tech firm while living in Canada or a lower cost-of-living jurisdiction in the US, subject to potential compensation |
| Retirement and pensions | Offerings from large tech companies often provide dollar-for-dollar matching on their employees’ 401(k) up to a certain dollar amount or percentage of salary, or a 50 percent match on contributions up to an employee’s IRS limit.96 Some companies base matching on the length of time employed at the company; for example, Apple provides 50 percent matching on three to six percent of base salary (depending on seniority) for the first two years, which goes up to 100 percent after five years.97 | Similar to the US, employers often provide matching for employees’ contributions to their defined contribution plans. Canadian companies typically offer around three to five percent matching for RRSP contributions.98 A competitive offering from a tech company could vary depending on the company. | In both countries, tech companies often provide “defined contribution” plans99 which provide some level of matching, which could vary by base salary percentage and match rate. Given that base salaries on average are greater in the US, pension benefits may be more competitive in the US as a function of the size of wage compensation alone. In the US, the most common “defined contribution” plan is the traditional 401(k),100 which functions like RRSPs in Canada. |
| Paid time off (PTO) and vacation pay | According to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers are not required to pay employees for time taken off from work for vacation, sick leave, or federal holidays.101 However, the tech industry is generally insulated from this, as most, if not all large tech companies in the US provide some PTO and vacation time for their employees. For many large tech companies, 10 to 20 days of PTO is standard. In some instances, paid time off is unlimited for US-based employees at some companies such as Microsoft and LinkedIn.102 103 | All federally regulated employers must provide employees a minimum of two weeks of paid vacation every year, with vacation pay matching at least four percent of gross wages.104 While at least three weeks of vacation is standard across tech companies, companies such as Shopify provide unlimited paid time off (similar to what top tech companies are offering in the US). | The big difference between the two countries for PTO and vacation pay is in Canada, employers have a legal obligation to provide PTO whereas this is not the case in the US. As tech companies would often need to provide PTO/vacation packages in order to remain competitive, there is not a large discernable difference in these offerings between countries. |
1
Viet Vu, Further and Further Away: Canada’s Unrealized Digital Potential, Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, https://brookfieldinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/Further-and-Further-Away-report.pdf.
2
QS World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022: Engineering & Technology, https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2022/engineeringtechnology.
3
Hired, State of Salaries Report: 2018, https://hired.com/state-ofsalaries-2018.
4
Sean Silcoff, “Canada Facing ‘Brain Drain’ As Young Tech Talent Leaves for Silicon Valley,” The Globe and Mail, May 3, 2018, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/technology/article-canada-facingbrain-drain-as-young-tech-talent-leaves-for-silicon.
5
Holly Oegema, Ryan Wang, Spencer Dobrik, Stephen Melinyshyn and William Lo, Software Engineering 2020 Class Profile, University of Waterloo, June 2020, https://uw-se-2020-class-profile.github.io/profile.pdf.
6
Statistics Canada, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at Basic Prices, By Industry, Monthly, Growth Rates (x 1,000,000), https://doi.org/10.25318/3610043401-eng.
7
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Gross Domestic Spending on R&D, https://data.oecd.org/rd/grossdomestic-spending-on-r-d.htm.
8
Specifically, this compares the compound annual growth rate in expenditures for research and development into natural sciences and engineering as a percentage of GDP between 1981-2000 and 2000-2021.
9
Statistics Canada, Gross Domestic Expenditures on Research and Development, by Science Type and by Funder and Performer Sector (x 1,000,000), https://doi.org/10.25318/2710027301-eng.
10
Statistics Canada, Gross Domestic Product, Expenditure-based, Provincial and Territorial, Annual (x 1,000,000), https://doi.org/10.25318/3610022201-eng.
11
National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, and U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Industrial R&D, Table 8: Funds for industrial R&D performance in the United States, by industry and size of company and by technology area: 2002, https://wayback.archive-it.org/5902/20160210163622/http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf06322/tables.htm.
12
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) Survey, 2020, Table 19: Companies with domestic R&D paid for by the company and others and performed by the company in the software products and embedded software technology focus area, by industry and company size, https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf23314.
13
The compound average growth rates compare the years 2002 to 2020. US tech R&D is calculated as domestic R&D investment in software products.
14
Statistics Canada, Labour Productivity and Related Measures by Business Sector Industry and by Non-commercial Activity Consistent with the Industry Accounts, https://doi.org/10.25318/3610048001-eng.
15
Oegema et al, Software Engineering 2020 Class Profile, University of Waterloo, June 2020, https://uw-se-2020-class-profile.github.io/profile.pdf.
16
Patrick Lam, Derek Rayside, Kashish Goel, Andrew Xia, Roxanne Fruytier, Nader Sabahi, Jaxon Lin, Jenny Wills, Aravinda Segu and Akshay Pall, Software Engineering 2021 Class Profile, University of Waterloo, 2021, https://sexxis.github.io/classprofile.
17
Andy Zhang, Software Engineering 2018 Class Profile, University of Waterloo, 2021, https://classprofile.andyzhang.net.
18
Statistics Canada. Labour Productivity and Related Measures By Business Sector Industry, https://doi.org/10.25318/3610048001-eng.
19
Viet Vu, Further and Further Away: Canada’s Unrealized Digital Potential, Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, https://brookfieldinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/Further-and-Further-Away-report.pdf.
20
The gap is similar on a per-hour basis, inflation adjusted.
21
2021 Census data for employment income was collected for the 2020 calendar year, according to Statistics Canada; Statistics Canada, Dictionary: Census of Population, 2021: Employment Income, https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/ref/dict/az/definition-eng.cfm?ID=pop027.
22
This includes net self-employment income and paid employment with a business, for all farm and non-farm businesses. Income from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) does not count under employment income.
23
The 2021 version of the National Occupational Classification has 516 five-digit occupations, more than the 500 occupations in the 2016 version.
24
Jointly sponsored between the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
25
The American Community Survey is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.
26
Metropolitan Statistical Areas correspond to the Canadian equivalent of Census Metropolitan Areas, where at least 50,000 inhabitants live in an urban centre. Non-metropolitan areas correspond to the Canadian equivalent of Census Agglomerations, with at least 10,000 inhabitants but no more than 50,000.
27
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Purchasing Power Parities (PPP), https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasing-power-parities-ppp.htm.
28
Viet Vu and Sihwa Kim, Are Tech Jobs More Pandemic-proof? Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, August 2020, https://brookfieldinstitute.ca/are-tech-jobs-more-pandemic-proof.
29
Calculations were made using data from the May 2020 and 2021 tables published by the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.
30
Averaged over an assumed 1.7 percent and 2.1 percent for all occupations from two Statistics Canada sources; Statistics Canada, Employee Wages by Occupation, Annual, 1997 to 2022, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=1410034001; Statistics Canada. Employee Wages by Industry, Annual, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410006401.
31
Viet Vu, Asher Zafar and Creig Lamb, Who are Canada’s Tech Workers? Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, January 2019, https://brookfieldinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/FINAL-Tech-Workers-ONLINE.pdf.
32
See Appendix A for modifications made to the tech workers definition.
33
867 detailed SOC codes were grouped into 566 occupations in the 2021 CPS-ASEC (cross-walked from 2018 Census Occupation codes), 826 occupations in the 2021 OEWS, and 531 occupations in the 2021 ACS. Occupations in the 2021 Canadian Census are classified into 516 five-digit NOC codes.
34
These proportions only include those who are employed and/or at work.
35
LinkedIn STEM Classification Methodology, LinkedIn Technical Note, February 2023, https://economicgraph.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/economicgraph/en-us/PDF/linkedin-stem-classification-methodologyegtn01.pdf.
36
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections: Employment in STEM Occupations, https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables/stememployment.htm.
37
See Appendix A for a full list of occupations and more information on how the definitional framework was constructed.
38
See Appendix E for details on race categorizations between the US and Canada.
39
Full-time workers are defined as those who usually work 35 or more hours per week, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Concepts and Definitions (CPS); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey: Concepts and Definitions (CPS), https://www.bls.gov/cps/definitions.htm#fullparttime.
40
A full-year or year-round worker is defined as a worker who worked 50 to 52 weeks a year, as defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’, “Work Experience Technical Note”; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Work Experience Technical Note, Economic News Release, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/work.tn.htm.
41
For those who report being at work within the past year.
42
Full-time work is defined by Statistics Canada as working at least 30 hours per week at a worker’s primary job. However, in the CPS-ASEC, full-time work is defined as working at least 35 hours a week. It is assumed that this disparity has a negligible impact on aggregated wage outcomes.
43
Government of Canada, EI Maternity and Parental Benefits, https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-maternity-parental.html.
44
U.S. Department of Labor, Family and Medical Leave (FMLA), https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/benefits-leave/fmla.
45
Lisa Kim, “Google Just Increased Parental Leave to 24 Weeks-Here’s How That Compares to Other Tech Giants,” Forbes, April 14, 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisakim/2022/01/27/google-justincreased-parental-leave-to-24-weeks-heres-how-that-compares-toother-tech-giants/?sh=37e44842b33d.
46
Statistics Canada, Labour Force Characteristics by Sex and Detailed Age Group, Annual, https://doi.org/10.25318/1410032701-eng.
47
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections: Civilian Labor Force Participation Rate by Age, Sex, Race, and Ethnicity, https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables/civilian-labor-force-participation-rate.htm.
48
Valerie Wilson and William Darity Jr., Understanding Black-White Disparities in Labor Market Outcomes Requires Models that Account for Persistent Discrimination and Unequal Bargaining Power. Economic Policy Institute, March 25, 2022, https://epi.org/215219.
49
Flo Nicolas, “Women in Technology: The Problematic Statistics & The Change Required,” LinkedIn, December 12, 2022, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/women-technology-problematic-statistics-change-flonicolas-esq; Abby McCain, “40 Telling Women in Technology Statistics,” Zippia, October 31, 2022, https://www.zippia.com/advice/women-intechnology-statistics.
50
Wage outcomes for Indigenous people in Canada were not analyzed due to the lack of data available.
51
Indigenous peoples in the United States are categorized in the ACS as “American Indian and/or Alaskan Native.”
52
In the ACS, the race categorization of “White” refers to those who have origins in Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa, whereas in the Canadian census these groups are analyzed separately.
53
BPTN, “The State of Black Canadians in STEM,” Obsidi by BPTN, February 13, 2023, https://obsidi.com/the-state-of-black-canadians-instem.
54
Jan Shelly Brown, Matthew Finney, Mark McMillan, and Chris Perkins, “How to Close the Black Tech Talent Gap,” McKinsey & Company, February 3, 2023, https://www.mckinsey.com/bem/our-insights/howto-close-the-black-tech-talent-gap.
55
Valerie Wilson and William Darity Jr. 2022, Understanding Black-White Disparities in Labor Market Outcomes Requires Models that Account for Persistent Discrimination and Unequal Bargaining Power, Economic Policy Institute, March 25,2022, https://epi.org/215219.
56
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Labor Force Characteristics by Race and Ethnicity, 2021,” BLS Reports, January 2023, https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/race-and-ethnicity/2021/home.htm.
57
Rose Khattar, Jessica Vela and Lorena Roque, Latino Workers Continue to Experience a Shortage of Good Jobs, Centre for American Progress, July 18, 2022, https://www.americanprogress.org/article/latinoworkers-continue-to-experience-a-shortage-of-good-jobs.
58
United States Census Bureau, QuickFacts – United States, https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045222.
59
Genevieve Carleton, “Why the Tech Diversity Gap Continues to Persist,” BestColleges, April 18, 2023, https://www.bestcolleges.com/bootcamps/guides/tech-diversity-gap-persists.
60
Dean, Sam and Johana Bhuiyan, “Black, Latino People Are Being Left Out of the Tech Workforce,” Government Technology (Los Angeles Times), June 24, 2020, https://www.govtech.com/workforce/blacklatino-people-are-being-left-out-of-the-tech-workforce.html.
61
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “American Indians and Alaska Natives in the U.S. Labor Force,” Monthly Labor Review, November 2019, https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2019/article/american-indians-and-alaskanatives-in-the-u-s-labor-force.htm.
62
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Indigenous Employment and Skills Strategies in Canada, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264300477.-en.
63
From the author’s own calculations using the Current Population Survey.
64
Stuart Anderson, Immigrant Entrepreneurs and U.S. Billion-Dollar Companies, National Foundation for American Policy, July 2022, https://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/2022-BILLION-DOLLARSTARTUPS.NFAP-Policy-Brief.2022.pdf.
65
Tech hubs and workers tend to be based in metropolitan areas. Fully 86 percent of tech workers in the US work in a MSA and 91 percent of tech workers in Canada work within a CMA (according to the author’s own calculations based on OEWS and Statistics Canada data).
66
Enrico Moretti, The Effect of High-Tech Clusters on the Productivity of Top Inventors, NBER Working Paper 26270, August 2021, https://doi.org/10.3386/w26270.
67
CBRE, Scoring Tech Talent 2022, https://www.cbre.com/insights/books/scoring-tech-talent-2022.
68
The five Canadian tech hubs identified include the CMAs of Toronto, Vancouver, Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge, Ottawa, and Montreal.
69
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditures – 2021, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cesan.pdf.
70
Based on a calculation of 2019 national average shelter costs; Statistics Canada, Household Spending, Canada, Regions and Provinces, https://doi.org/10.25318/1110022201-eng; Statistics Canada, Consumer Price Index, Annual Average, Not Seasonally Adjusted, https://doi.org/10.25318/1810000501-eng.
71
Larissa Klick and Sandra Schaffner, “Do Housing Costs Eat Up All Regional Income Disparities?” VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall – Democracy and Market Economy, https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/vfsc19/203621.html.
72
More information on the dataset from Pave: https://www.advancedhr.com/products-overview
73
A fuller description of the three compensation types were outlined by Option Impact as follows:
Bonus: The total number of positions receiving a bonus is reported at the top of the section. Bonus is the reported variable target amount of cash an employee may receive each year.
Total Target Pay: The total target pay is the calculated amount of base plus bonus that an employee receives each year. Please Note: The calculation is done at the employee level, so the summarized data reported for base salary plus the summarized data for bonus may (or may not) equal the calculation for total target pay.
% Total Equity: The % total equity is calculated as the actual total shares held divided by the reported fully diluted shares and reported as a percentage.
Total Equity Gross Value: Gross Value = % Fully Diluted Shares x Est. Company Value. Does not consider strike price.
% Last Refresh Grant: The % last refresh grant, regardless of the type of shares received, is calculated as the actual number of shares provided in the last refresh grant divided by the reported fully diluted shares and reported as a percentage.
% Last Refresh Gross Value: Gross Value = % Fully Diluted Shares x Est. Company Value. Does not consider strike price.
74
Conrad Lee and Dan Kapinos, “Revising Equity Refresh Programs to Retain Talent at Private Companies,” Aon Human Capital Insights, May 2022, https://humancapital.aon.com/insights/articles/2022/revising-equity-refresh-programs-to-retain-talent-at-privatecompanies.
75
While not all tech jobs are covered, the job families examined include Hardware and Software development, engineering, QA and testing, Web Engineering, Development Operations, Information Technology, Data Science, and Data/Algorithm Engineering. A full list of jobs covered here is included in Appendix A.
76
The distribution of jobs across both countries is similar, with no more than a 5.5 percent variation in count between countries for the same job.
77
This consists of Meta (formerly referred as Facebook), Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet (formerly referred to as Google).
78
Ellie Caruso, “Apple and Microsoft Weight in S&P 500 Reaches Record High,” ETF Trends, March 22, 2023, https://www.etftrends.com/portfolio-strategies-channel/apple-microsoft-weight-sp-500-reachesrecord-high.
79
Market capitalization is based on the author’s own calculations.
80
Toronto Stock Exchange, The MiG Report, April 2023, https://www.tsx.com/resource/en/3011.
81
Toronto Stock Exchange, Shopify Inc. Class A Subordinate Voting Shares, https://money.tmx.com/en/quote/SHOP.
82
NASDAQ, Apple Inc. Common Stock, https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/aapl.
83
Other plans could include Exclusive Provider Organizations (EPOs) or Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs), which could cover a larger network of services for an additional cost or higher premiums.
84
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, What You Should Know About Provider Networks, https://marketplace.cms.gov/outreach-andeducation/what-you-should-know-provider-networks.pdf.
85
Government of Canada, Canada’s Health Care System, https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/canada-health-care-system.html.
86
This could vary depending on the province.
87
Canadian Institute for Health Information, National Health Expenditure Trends, November 3, 2022, https://www.cihi.ca/en/national-healthexpenditure-trends.
88
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Health Expenditures 2021 Highlights, https://www.cms.gov/files/document/highlights.pdf.
89
Morning Consult, National Tracking Poll #2204173: Crosstabulation Results, April 28-May 12, 2022, https://assets.morningconsult.com/wp-uploads/2022/05/24103209/2204173_crosstabs_Tech_Workers_Tech_Workers_v1_HD.pdf.
90
The results were based on an online survey of 750 tech workers across the US between April 28 and May 12, 2022, with a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
91
Levels.fyi, List of Companies Going Remote, https://www.levels.fyi/remote.
92
TAP Network, “2022 Salary Survey,” https://tapnetwork.ca/news/trends-and-insights-from-tap-networks-2022-salary-survey.
93
Isabelle Kirkwood, “The Great Resignation has Intensified Canadian Tech’s War for Talent: Report,” Vancouver Tech Journal, September 27, 2022, https://www.vantechjournal.com/p/the-great-resignation-hasintensified.
94
216 companies were surveyed, representing around 30,000 employees.
95
CBC News, “Shopify Permanently Moves to Work-from-Home Model,” CBC News, May 21, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/shopify-pandemic-staff-ottawa-1.5578614.
96
Levels.fyi, Benefits – 401k, https://www.levels.fyi/benefits/401k.
97
Levels.fyi, Apple benefits, https://www.levels.fyi/companies/apple/benefits.
98
Emily Brust, “RRSP Matching Program: Top 5 Things Employers Should Consider,” Wealthsimple, March 1, 2022, https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/work/learn/employer-rrsp-matching-program.
99
There are five types of defined contribution retirement plans: savings & thrift, deferred profit sharing, money purchase pension, employee stock option (ESOP), and savings incentive match plan. 401(K) and 403(B), are some of the defined contribution plans; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Beyond the Numbers: Defined Contribution Retirement Plans: Who Has Them and What Do They Cost? https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-5/defined-contribution-retirement-plans-who-has-them-and-what-do-they-cost.htm.
100
401(k) plans are less rigid for the employer as they are linked to the company’s profitability; Audrey McNay, “Ranking FAANG 401k Plans,” Levels.fyi blog, December 15, 2020, https://www.levels.fyi/blog/rankingfaang-401k-plans.html.
101
U.S. Department of Labor, Vacation leave, https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/vacation_leave.
102
Levels.fyi, PTO (Vacation / Personal Days), https://www.levels.fyi/benefits/PTO-Vacation-Personal-Days.
103
Megan Cerullo, “Microsoft Giving Workers Unlimited Time Off,” CBS News, January 11, 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/microsoftgiving-workers-unlimited-time-off.
104
Employment and Social Development Canada, Annual vacations and general holidays for employees working for federally regulated employers, https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs/workplace/federal-labourstandards/vacations-holidays.html.
105
Invest in Canada, STEM talent: Canada’s Shift From Brain Drain to Brain Gain, https://www.investcanada.ca/news/stem-talent-canadasshift-brain-drain.
106
Ibid.
107
Jay Shambaugh, Ryan Nunn and Patrick Liu, How Declining Dynamism Affects Wages, Brookings Institution, February 2018, https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/es_2272018_how_declining_dynamism_affects_wages.pdf.
108
Joanna Glasner, “These Countries Have the Most Startup Investment for Their Size,” Crunchbase News, November 2, 2021, https://news.crunchbase.com/startups/countries-most-startup-investment.
109
Government of Canada, Immigrate with a Start-up Visa: About the Process, https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/start-visa/about.html.
110
Startup Estonia, Start-up visa Eligibility – Foreign Founders, https://startupestonia.ee/visa/eligibility-foreign-founder.
111
Tallinn University of Technology, Programmes taught in English, https://taltech.ee/en/programmes.
112
Government of Canada, Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Tax Incentives,” https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/scientific-research-experimentaldevelopment-tax-incentive-program.html.
113
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Strategic Innovation Fund, https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/strategic-innovationfund/en.
114
There were 82 respondents in the 2020 survey and 50 respondents in the 2021 survey.
115
Oegema et al., Software Engineering 2020 Class Profile, https://uwse-2020-class-profile.github.io/profile.pdf.
116
Lam et al., “Software Engineering 2021 Class Profile,” https://sexxis.github.io/classprofile.
117
Michael Baker, Yosh Halberstam, Kory Kroft, Alexandre Mas, Derek Messacar, Pay Transparency and the Gender Gap, December 2021, http://www.korykroft.com/files/bhkmm_Dec082021_Resubmission.pdf.
118
David Card, Thomas Lemieux and W. Craig Riddell, “Unions and Wage Inequality: The Roles of Hender, Skill and Public Sector Employment,” Canadian Journal of Economics 53, no. 1 (2020): 140-173 https://doi.org/10.1111/caje.12432.
119
Statistics Canada, Union Status By Industry,” https://doi.org/10.25318/1410013201-eng.
120
Vu, V., Zafar, A., Lamb, C. (2019). “Who are Canada’s Tech Workers?” p. 38-44, https://brookfieldinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/FINALTech-Workers-ONLINE.pdf.
121
Vu, V. (2022). “The O*NET/NOC Crosswalk, an update”. https://brookfieldinstitute.ca/crosswalk-blog-post.
122
According to Statistics Canada, n.i.e. is an abbreviation for “not included elsewhere”; In this context, visible minority identities that were not analyzed as its own separate group are included in this categorization. Examples of identities that would be placed in this category include ‘Guyanese,’ ‘West Indian,’ ‘Tibetan,’ ‘Polynesian,’ ‘Pacific Islander,’ etc.
123
According to Statistics Canada, n.i.e. is an abbreviation for “not included elsewhere”; In this context, visible minority identities that were not analyzed as its own separate group are included in this categorization. Examples of identities that would be placed in this category include Guyanese, West Indian, Tibetan, Polynesian, Pacific Islander, etc.re included in this categorization.
124
Statistics Canada, Visible minority of person, https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3Var.pl?Function=DECI&Id=1323413.