Women get slightly more pay raises than men, but men get much larger ones at small and medium-sized businesses, according to a new index from human resources management firm TribeHR.

The Waterloo, Ont.-based company’s new pay raise index found men were three times as likely as women to get a pay raise of 25 per cent or more between the first and the third quarter of this year. Of pay raises larger than five per cent, 60 per cent went to men, the study found.

But at the same time, women were marginally more likely than men to get a raise at all, with 7.4 per cent of women working in small and medium enterprises receiving a raise, compared to 6.2 per cent of men.

CHECK OUT TribeHR's PAY INDEX INFOGRAPHIC

TribeHR CEO called the results “a mixed picture” when it comes to gender equality in the workforce.

"It's interesting to see that women seem to be overtaking men in terms of the number of pay raises given but there's still a stark imbalance in the size of salary increases awarded,” he said in a statement.

“Employee satisfaction and workplace culture play an increasingly large role in a business' brand reputation — and those who pay fairly and amply recognize employee contributions will reap the benefits when it comes to hiring and talent retention," he added.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW SLIDESHOW
The 25 Best And 25 Worst Countries For Gender Equality

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• 1. Iceland

  2012 score: 0.8640 In 2011, Iceland ranked #1 with a score of 0.8530.

• 2. Finland

  2012 score: 0.8451 In 2011, Finland ranked #3 with a score of 0.8383

• 3. Norway

  2012 score: 0.8403 In 2011, Norway ranked #2 with a score of 0.8404.

• 4. Sweden

  2012 score: 0.8159 In 2011, Sweden ranked #4 with a score of 0.8044.

• 5. Ireland

  2012 score: 0.7839 In 2011, Ireland ranked #5 with a score of 0.7830.

• 6. New Zealand

  2012 score: 0.7805 In 2011, New Zealand ranked #6 with a score of 0.7810.

• 7. Denmark

  2012 score: 0.7777 In 2011, Denmark ranked #7 with a score of 0.7778.

• 8. Philippines

  2012 score: 0.7757 In 2011, the Philippines ranked #8 with a score of 0.7685.

• 9. Nicaragua

  2012 score: 0.7697 In 2011, Nicaragua ranked #27 with a score of 0.7245.

• 10. Switzerland

  2012 score: 0.7672 In 2011, Switzerland ranked #10 with a score of 0.7627.

• 11. Netherlands

  2012 score: 0.7659 In 2012, the Netherlands ranked #15 with a score of 0.7470.

• 12. Belgium

  2012 score: 0.7652 In 2011, Belgium ranked #13 with a score of 0.7531.

• 13. Germany

  2012 score: 0.7629 In 2011, Germany ranked #11 with a score of 0.7590.

• 14. Lesotho

  2012 score: 0.7608 In 2011, Lesotho ranked #9 with a score of 0.7666.

• 15. Latvia

  2012 score: 0.7572 In 2011, Latvia ranked #19 with a score of 0.7399.

• 16. South Africa

  2012 score: 0.7496 In 2011, South Africa ranked #14 with a score of 0.7478.

• 17. Luxembourg

  2012 score: 0.7439 In 2011, Luxembourg was ranked #30 with a score of 0.7216.

• 18. United Kingdom

  2012 score: 0.7433 In 2011, the United Kingdom ranked #16 with a score of 0.7462.

• 19. Cuba

  2012 score: 0.7417 In 2011, Cuba was ranked #20 with a score of 0.7394.

• 20. Austria

  2012 score: 0.7391 In 2011, Austria ranked #34 with a score of 0.7165.

• 21. Canada

  2012 score: 0.7381 In 2011, Canada ranked #18 with a score of 0.7407.

• 22. United States

  2012 score: 0.7373 In 2011, the United States ranked #17 with a score of 0.7412.

• 23. Mozambique

  2012 score: 0.7350 In 2011, Mozambique ranked #26 with a score of 0.7251.

• 24. Burundi

  2012 score: 0.7338 In 2011, Burundi ranked #24 with a score of 0.7270.

• 25. Australia

  2012 score: 0.7294 In 2011, Australia ranked #23 with a score of 0.7291.

• 111. Bahrain

  2012 score: 0.6298 In 2011, Bahrain ranked #110 with a score of 0.6232.

• 112. Cameroon

  2012 score: 0.6291 In 2011, Cameroon ranked #119 with a score of 0.6073.

• 113. Fiji

  2012 score: 0.6285 In 2011, Fiji ranked #109 with a score of 0.6255.

• 114. Zambia

  2012 score: 0.6279 In 2011, Zambia ranked #106 with a score of 0.6300.

• 115. Qatar

  2012 score: 0.6264 In 2011, Qatar ranked #111 with a score of 0.6230.

• 116. Guatemala

  2012 score: 0.6260 In 2011, Guatemala ranked #112 with a score of 0.6229.

• 117. Benin

  2012 score: 0.6258 In 2012, Benin ranked #128 with a score of 0.5832.

• 118. Ethiopia

  2012 score: 0.6200 In 2011, Ethiopia ranked #116 with a score of 0.6136.

• 119. Mauritania

  2012 score: 0.6129 In 2011, Mauritania ranked #114 with a score of 0.6164.

• 120. Algeria

  2012 score: 0.6112 In 2011, Algeria ranked #121 with a score of 0.5991.

• 121. Jordan

  2012 score: 0.6103 In 2011, Jordan ranked #117 with a score of 0.6117.

• 122. Lebanon

  2012 score: 0.6030 In 2011, Lebanon ranked #118 with a score of 0.6083.

• 123. Nepal

  2012 score: 0.6026 In 2011, Nepal ranked #126 with a score of 0.5888.

• 124. Turkey

  2012 score: 0.6015 In 2011, Turkey ranked #122 with a score of 0.5954.

• 125. Oman

  2012 score: 0.5986 In 2011, Oman ranked #127 with a score of 0.5873.

• 126. Egypt

  2012 score: 0.5975 In 2011, Egypt ranked #123 with a score of 0.5933.

• 127. Iran

  2012 score: 0.5927 In 2011, Iran ranked #125 with a score of 0.5894.

• 128. Mali

  2012 score: 0.5842 In 2011, Mali ranked #132 with a score of 0.5752.

• 129. Morocco

  2012 score: 0.5833 In 2011, Morocco ranked #129 with a score of 0.5804.

• 130. Côte d'Ivoire

  2012 score: 0.5785 In 2011, Côte d'Ivoire ranked #130 with a score of 0.5773.

• 131. Saudi Arabia

  2012 score: 0.5731 In 2011, Saudi Arabia ranked #131 with a score of 0.5753.

• 132. Syria

  2012 score: 0.5626 In 2011, Syria ranked #124 with a score of 0.5896.

• 133. Chad

  2012 score: 0.5594 In 2011, Chad ranked #134 with a score of 0.5334.

• 134. Pakistan

  2012 score: 0.5478 In 2011, Pakistan ranked #133 with a score of 0.5583.

• 135. Yemen

  2012 score: 0.5054 In 2011, Yemen ranked #135 with a score of 0.4873.

The study collected data on salaries and documented workplace recognition among 20,000 employees at 2,200 small and medium-sized companies. Half the companies surveyed were in the United States, with another quarter in Canada and the remainder elsewhere in the world.

Though a significant gap in wages continues to exist between men and women in North America, data suggests the gap has been closing. In 1980, women made 62 cents for every dollar earned by a man, but by 2000 that number had risen to 76.9 cents.

What’s behind the wage gap is a more contentious issue. Some observers argue that the wage gap is considerably smaller once you account for differences in career choice and the number of hours worked, and has little to do with gender discrimination.

However, a 2010 OECD survey of wage gaps in the developed world found Canada and the U.S. to have a larger wage gap, marginally, than the average of OECD member countries, at around 21 per cent in Canada and 19 per cent in the U.S., when compared to the OECD average of 17.6 per cent.

Belgium, New Zealand and Poland were the only countries to register a wage gap of 10 per cent or less.

TribeHR's PAY INDEX INFOGRAPHIC