More than half of Canadians lie about their salary - survey

More than half of Canadians had admitted to lying about their salary, a recent study found.

A survey by BonusFinder Canada found that about 55.6% of Canadians had admittedly lied about their salaries, with 37.7% saying their salary is lower than it actually is while only 28% saying it was higher.

Among all the cities in the country, Calgary took the top spot of having the greatest number of respondents inflating their salary with 33.4%. Meanwhile, Quebec had the greatest number of respondents who deflated their salary with 41.8%.

Ottawa had the highest number of salary liars with 63.4% where 39.1% of respondents said they inflated their salary by $10,000 while 12.1% increased theirs by $20,000. About 34% of Ottawa citizens deflated their salaries.

This was followed by Saskatoon with 60.4% admitting to fabricating their wages with 43.3% increasing it by $10,000. Quebec citizens rank third with 59.8%, with 37.5% of residents had inflated their salary by $15,000.

Why lie about your salary?

Among those who admitted to inflating their salary, the most common reason was in order to negotiate leverage with 37.8% of respondents saying so. This was followed by social status and image at 22.2%, with family and social expectations taking the third spot with 12.5%.

Meanwhile, the most common reason behind respondents deflating their salary was to avoid jealousy or resentment in the workplace, with 28.4% admitting to this. This is because salary disparity is common in the workplace, even among employees who have the same role.

The second most common reason for deflating their salary was to maintain privacy with 25.4% saying that they chose not to discuss their wages with family members or coworkers. This is because some may be embarrassed about their high earnings as there can typically be negative associations with those who earn a lot.

Notably, about 9.6% of Canadians said they lie about their salaries to reduce their tax liabilities.

The industry with the respondents that lie the most about their salaries is the hospitality industry with 66.3%.

The survey gathered data from 3,000 Canadians.