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TABLE 25
RATE OF
UNEMPLOYMENT FOR WOMEN AND
MEN IN VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS
1975 -
1985
% Unemployed* in the Labor Force
|
1975 |
1985 |
1975** |
1985 |
|
% |
% |
|
% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Managerial |
4 |
6 |
|
4 |
| Professional artistic |
4 |
4 |
|
4 |
| Clerical |
6 |
9 |
|
10 |
| Sales |
6 |
10 |
|
9 |
| Service (incl. transport) |
9 |
14 |
|
14 |
| Primary Industry |
6 |
14 |
|
16 |
| Secondary Industry |
14 |
17 |
|
16 |
* See Definitions section; number unemployed minus number in the
labor force.
** Data not available.
Source: Characteristics of Women in the labor Force, 1976
Edition
Statistics Canada, The labor Force Survey (Monthly) Cat.
#71-001.
TABLE 26 highlights some serious concerns about the increased
use of technology: namely. that women's clerical occupations will be eroded,
and that the technological jobs which replace them will be filled by men.*
While the "automated office" is a relatively new phenomenon,
some hints of the possible effect on women can be ascertained from comparing
Clerical occupations in the Census years of 1971 and 1981.
* See for example, Menzies, H. Women and The Chip. 1982.
- As would be expected, the fastest growing sub-category in
the Clerical area is that of Electronic Data-Processing Equipment Operators, a
category which almost tripled in size from 1971 to 1981.
- Women have not yet lost jobs because of this change in the
Clerical sector. Rather, they gained an increasing share (88% in 1981 compared
to 73% in 1971) of the expanding Data Processing area. However, as Menzies
suggests, it may well be that these jobs are more monotonous and involve more
routine work than the non- electronic jobs they replaced.
Although it
is not yet apparent that technology in the Clerical area is resulting in loss
of women's jobs, this will be a trend that bears watching, especially when 1986
Census data become available.
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