4 - EMPLOYMENT

4.1 - Overview and Objectives

A major goal of education and, especially, of training is to prepare people for employment so that they can earn an adequate enough income to enable them to participate fully in all aspects of Canadian life.

Thus, employment can be considered a key outcome of the education and training process. This section of the report explores this area in detail from the following perspectives:

• which women are employed, the occupations in which they are employed and why they are employed in those occupations
  
  
• which women are underemployed and what factors account for their underemployment
  
  
• which women are unemployed and what factors account for their unemployment.

Future trends in employment are also discussed. As for the areas of Education and Training, the following research objectives were derived from World Plan of Action goals:

1. To determine what, if any, changes occurred for women, both in their rate of labor force participation and unemployment during the 1976- 1985 time period.
   
   
2. To identify whether there are particular groups of women who experience high rates of unemployment.
   
   
3. To identify changes in access to and compensation for part-time work.
   
   
4. To determine whether women gained access to a broader range of occupations, especially management.
   
   
5. To determine whether the increased use of technology has had a positive or negative impact on clerical jobs.
   
   
6. To determine whether changes have occurred in the relative pay of women as compared to men across all occupations and within occupations that are described the same way (i.e., within the same occupational categories).
   
   
7. To describe the demographic characteristics of women who have the lowest incomes.
   
   
8. To determine whether women's participation in trade unions has increased.
   
   
9. To determine whether there was an increase in the availability of childcare.