TABLE 3.

Labour force participation rates¹ for mothers with children under
15 years, by ages of the children (1967, 1971 and 1973)

Comment:

Table 3 indicates that labour force participation rates for mothers have increased for all groups of mothers since 1967. The general pattern for each year shows that mothers with school-age children only are most likely to participate and those with both pre-school and school-age children are least likely to participate. This suggests that the higher the level of responsibility within the home, the lower the level of participation outside the home.

The changes from 1971 to 1973 are deceptive since they suggest a levelling off of increases in participation. Note that the data for these two years were gathered by different methods and that the major growth in day care services did not occur until after 1973. The 1976 figures (not available at this time) will likely show another large increase in participation rates for all groups of mothers.

^1. Participation rate is defined as the percentage of a particular group that either holds a job or is actively seeking one. ego in 1973, 35% of all mothers were labour force participants. The corollary is that 65% were not.

^2. To be "in the labour force" one must be 15 years of age or older and be classed as employed or unemployed. To be employed means to hold a job for pay or profit. To be unemployed means to not hold a job, to be available for work, and to have actively sought a job in the previous four weeks. To be "not in the labour force" one must be 15 years of age or older and a non-institutionalized civilian who is classed as neither employed nor unemployed. Mostly these are students, housewives, and retirees.

^3. School-age children were defined as being under 14 years of age in 1967 and under 15 years of age in following years.