BUSINESS

Why there's a workforce gap between Canadian and American women

CTVNews.ca Staff Published Wednesday, August 17, 2016 12:00PM EDT

In this Aug. 18, 2014 photo, student Samantha Santana, left, gets instruction from Kathleen Klohe during a training session conducted by Nontraditional Employment for Women, to train women for employment in the construction trades, in New York. (Richard Drew / AP Photo)

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Twenty years ago, Canadian and American women participated in the labour force at nearly identical rates. But that started to change in the late 1990s and there are now more women working in Canada than across the border, according to a new Statistics Canada study.

In 1997, 76 per cent of Canadian women aged 25 to 54 and 77 per cent of their American counterparts worked. By 2015, the female labour force participation rate increased to 81 per cent in Canada, but declined in the U.S. to 74 per cent, according to the study released Wednesday.

In Canada, the overall number of working women increased largely because of those aged 45 to 54. The participation rate of Canadian women in that age group increased by 10 percentage points (from 72 to 82 per cent) since 1997. In America, it declined by two percentage points (from 76 to 74 per cent).

The U.S.-Canada labour force differences are more pronounced among less-educated women, StatsCan found. By 2015, Canadian women with a high school diploma or less were more likely to participate in the labour market than U.S. women with the same level of education.

The study also found that rising levels of female education had a positive influence on women joining the workforce in both countries.

From 1997 to 2015, the proportion of Canadian women aged 25 to 54 who had a university degree nearly doubled, from 18 per cent to 35 per cent. In the United States, the proportion of university-educated women rose from 26 per cent to 38 per cent.

The study suggests that overall rates of female employment in the U.S. and Canada diverged partly due to the global recession eight years ago.

“The United States was hit by the worst recession in decades in the late 2000s, which likely stymied employment opportunities for women—especially those with lower levels of education,” the study found.

Although Canada also suffered during the recession, it did not experience the same drop of female employment during those years, StatsCan said.

Still, the increase in the labour market participation of Canadian women aged 45 to 54 “remains a topic for further research,” the study said.