Tags: Alberta's Business, Business - Jobs

Education key to a job for Alberta women

March 12, 2012

CALGARY, AB, Mar. 12, 2012, Troy Media/ – The disparities between men and women in the workforce are well-documented, but there are gaps between workers of the same gender, as well. Depending of education level, women in Alberta have experienced very different opportunities in the work force.

The graph shows the change in Alberta employment among females over the age of 25, both full-time and part-time, over the past 10 years. The lines show a 12-month moving average to smooth out the seasonal fluctuations.

Alberta women with a certificate or diploma from a college or polytechnic accounted for about 282,000 jobs in February 2012. That beat out women with a university degree (undergraduate and higher), which made up 241,000. Women who had completed only as far as high school accounted for 180,000 workers. (Other categories counted by Statistics Canada include less than high school completion, and some post-secondary but without completion of a program).

Aside from a gap in wages – which would certainly favour women with more education – the job opportunities in Alberta over the past decade have clearly been greater for those with more education.

Compared to the 12-month average a decade ago, jobs for women with both high school and post-secondary education have increased by about 30 per cent. Over the last five years alone, jobs for female high school graduates have been unchanged.

Jobs for university educated women, however, have increased by 71 per cent over the past decade, and the rate of increase has picked up over the last five years.

| ATB Financial

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