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Paid work

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Women in Canada: A gender based statistical report
Author: 
Ferrao, Vincent
Format: 
Report
Publication Date: 
9 Dec 2010
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PDF icon paid-work-2010.pdf1.37 MB

Excerpts from the Daily article:

The employment rate for women with children has been steadily on the rise during the past three decades. In 2009, 72.9% of women with children under the age of 16 living at home were employed, nearly twice the rate of 39.1% recorded in 1976.

This analysis of paid work among women shows considerable change in their labour force activity during this period. In general, the employment rate for women has followed an upward trend since 1976, when it was 41.9%, although women are still less likely to be employed than men. In 2009, about 8.1 million women had a paid job in Canada. This represents an employment rate of 58.3% compared with 65.2% for men.

The employment rate for women with children under the age of 3 was 64.4% in 2009, more than double the proportion of 27.6% in 1976. Additionally, 11.9% of working women were self-employed in 2009, up from 8.6% in 1976.

While nearly three-quarters of employed women worked full time in 2009, women were more likely than men to work part time.

The majority of employed women continue to work in occupations in which they have been traditionally concentrated. However, they have increased their representation in several professional fields such as business and finance.

....

Nearly 7 out of 10 part-time workers in 2009 were women, a proportion that has changed little over the past three decades.

In 2009, 2.2 million women worked part time, that is, fewer than 30 hours a week at their main job. The share of women working part time rose from 23.6% in 1976 to 26.9% in 2009. In comparison, the rate for men in 2009 was 11.9%, less than half that of women, although it more than doubled from 1976.

In addition, a growing number of women are self-employed. In 2009, nearly 1 million women, or 11.9% of all those with jobs, were self-employed, up from 8.6% in 1976.

Self-employment has increased about as fast among women as it has among men in the past two decades, although women are still less likely than men to be self-employed. Women accounted for 35.5% of all self-employed workers in 2009, up from 31.2% in 1990 and 26.3% in 1976.

The majority of employed women continue to work in occupations in which they have been traditionally concentrated, although the proportion has declined slowly over the past two decades.

In 2009, 67.0% of employed women worked in teaching, nursing and related health occupations, clerical or other administrative positions, or sales and service occupations. In contrast, 31.0% of employed men worked in these fields.

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