A visiting economics professor says the private sector isn’t all it’s cracked up to be when it comes to compensation.

Arthur Sweetman is an economics professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, and the Ontario research chair in health human resources.

He’s in St. John’s attending MUN’s International Symposium on equity, diversity and inclusion in the labour market.

And he says when it comes to fair pay across the board, the public sector is where it’s at.

“The one thing we talked about today, which is maybe a bit new and people are maybe less aware of, is that almost all of the negative wage gaps are happening in the private sector,” he said. “There’s very little (of it) happening in the public sector. In fact, the public sector seems to be doing a very good job of treating people equally.”

The symposium is focused on evening the playing field for those historically disadvantaged when it comes to landing and keeping a job that pays a fair wage.

The event, which featured speakers from universities such as Rutgers and Harvard in the U.S., concludes this afternoon at MUN’s St. John’s campus.