More youth working in 2006, too
Ongoing gains in the labour force participation rates of women in 2006 helped offset the loss of prime-aged workers as the first boomers turned 60, according to Statistics Canada.
The study, Year End Review, found the share of the prime-aged labour force (aged 25 to 54) dropped below 70 per cent for the first time in nearly two decades. But after a brief pause in growth in 2005, a record 62.1 per cent of all women were in the labour force last year. Since 1999, their participation rate has risen 3.2 points, more than in all of the 1990s.
One reason women continued to enter the labour force was their increasing prospect of getting a job. Unemployment among adult women was at all all-time low of 5.2 per cent last year, and has been below that of adult men every year since 2000.
The increasing attachment of Canadian women to the labour force was in marked contrast with the United States. There, the participation rate of women peaked at 60 per cent in 1999, before falling steadily to 59.4 per cent.
In 2006, the number of women with a university degree exceeded men for the first time ever. Given the widening gap in educational attainment between women and men, the increased particiaption of women in the working world has also assured a growing supply of the most skilled workers.
Another difference with the U.S. was the recovery in youth employment rates in Canada. Last year, 58.7 per cent of youths aged 15 to 24 held a job, up from a low of 51.5 per cent a decade ago. The increase was equally evident for teens and older youths.
In contrast, youths (especially teens) have been withdrawing from the labour force in the U.S. The increase in Canadian youths holding jobs relative to American youths was equivalent to 1.5 per cent of total employment.
The study, Year End Review, found the share of the prime-aged labour force (aged 25 to 54) dropped below 70 per cent for the first time in nearly two decades. But after a brief pause in growth in 2005, a record 62.1 per cent of all women were in the labour force last year. Since 1999, their participation rate has risen 3.2 points, more than in all of the 1990s.
One reason women continued to enter the labour force was their increasing prospect of getting a job. Unemployment among adult women was at all all-time low of 5.2 per cent last year, and has been below that of adult men every year since 2000.
The increasing attachment of Canadian women to the labour force was in marked contrast with the United States. There, the participation rate of women peaked at 60 per cent in 1999, before falling steadily to 59.4 per cent.
In 2006, the number of women with a university degree exceeded men for the first time ever. Given the widening gap in educational attainment between women and men, the increased particiaption of women in the working world has also assured a growing supply of the most skilled workers.
Another difference with the U.S. was the recovery in youth employment rates in Canada. Last year, 58.7 per cent of youths aged 15 to 24 held a job, up from a low of 51.5 per cent a decade ago. The increase was equally evident for teens and older youths.
In contrast, youths (especially teens) have been withdrawing from the labour force in the U.S. The increase in Canadian youths holding jobs relative to American youths was equivalent to 1.5 per cent of total employment.
