4.2 - Full- and Part-Time Employment, Unemployment

FIGURE 13, which presents an historical overview of the percentage of Canadian women in the labor force shows the relatively steady increase in female workforce participation since 1941 (i.e., during and after World War I I ) .

TABLE 15 shows the same measure by various age groups and indicates the growing workforce participation of women by each successive age level. This analysis provides an interesting perspective of participation trends over time. Note that the diagonals drawn on the TABLE allow the reader to follow the same group of women (age cohorts) throughout their working lives.

TABLE 16 supplements the information in FIGURE 13 and TABLE 15. It shows the trends in women's labor force participation up to the present time by examining the percentage of Canadian women in the workforce and among various age groups in 1965, 1975 and 1985.

The age cohort analysis reveals that:

• In 1921, about one third of all young women (age 15-24) entered the workforce. However, by the time these women (who were age 25-34 in 1931 and age 35-44 in 1941) reached the age for marriage and childbearing, their participation dropped to about one in four or one in five. Few of these women appear to have re-entered the labor force.
  
  
• Women who entered the labor force in 1931 (33% of women ages 15-24) also appeared to leave during their childbearing years (ages 25-34 and 35-44). However, some of these women apparently returned to the labor force. so that 33% of them, now ages 45-54 were in the labor force in 1961.
  
  
• Each successive decade up to 1971 saw women return to work at a somewhat earlier age. Women who entered the labor force in 1971 (49% of women ages 15-24) do not appear to have left at all a decade later since even more of these women (66%), now ages 25-34, were in the labor force in 1981.

In fact, since 1971 and up to 1985, women are More likely to be in the workforce when they are 25-34 years old than when they are 15-24. This undoubtedly occurs because they are remaining in school longer to prepare more adequately for a lifetime spent in the workforce.