The Gender Training Gap

Canadian women are less likely to receive training, whether they are employed or unemployed.

Women are less likely to eligible for EI and thus the training opportunities it provides. Training for EI eligible women in Ontario is also on the wane. Last year, only one-fifth of individuals who received training through their EI benefits were women, down 10% from five years ago.

Employed women are also at a disadvantage. A new study from Statistics Canada reports that women in vulnerable working situations are less likely to receive training from their employers than men, but more likely to accept it if offered.

Access to free, community-based training is an important option for many women. Agencies that provide training opportunities to both EI and non-EI eligible women report high demand for their services. However, many women-focused agencies struggle to maintain their programs patching together funding for services and essential program supports.

>more on EI eligibility
>more on EI training numbers
>more on employer-sponsored training
>more on community-based training

Training as Transformative Social and Economic Policy

TD's Chief Economist believes that training is a key way to invest in the country's future. Don Drummond encourages Canada to place "social policy as a centerpiece of strategies to boost economic performance". Recovery from the recession will be swiftest with policies that "support growth by encouraging workers' acquisition of skills".

Drummond goes on to say that transformative strategies "address economic and social exclusion". People in precarious working situations are more vulnerable to changes in the economy and less able to accrue funds for upgrading on their own.

>more on The ACTEW Blog

The Second Career Strategy

Last month, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities reported that of the 10,000 people re-training through the Second Career Strategy, 49% are women, although only 6% of trainees are not EI or Reach-Back eligible. The Province will soon undertake research on the outcomes for participants.

>Second Career Update from MTCU

Women's Poverty and the Recession

A report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives looks at strategies that address women's poverty. It observes that successful policies and programs promote women's economic autonomy and coordinate poverty strategies with employment and training policies. Historically the latter is measured by employment ("any job is a good job"), rather than income improvement.

>Women's Poverty and the Recession

The Recession for Women in Australia

This report from the Australia Institute challenges official measurements of employment rates. Women's labour patterns vary from men's. As a result, often women are perceived as being "outside" the labour force rather than unemployed. For example, women's caregiving roles limit their ability to be immediately available for employment.

>The Impact of the Recession on Women

Facts

• Among low-wage workers, 43% of women compared to 50% of men received training. 42% of female less-educated workers were trained compared to 52% of males. (1)

• Only 1 in 18 low-wage, less-educated, non-union female workers declined employer-sponsored training compared to 1 in 9 of their male counterparts. (1)

• Since 2004, women's EI training participation rates in Ontario have declined. By 2008, only 21% of EI trainees were women, the lowest number for the province on record. (2)

• For women workers, Employment Insurance coverage dropped from 69% in 1990 to 32% in 2004. (3)

• A Canadian woman earns 72 cents to every dollar a man in similar work earns, a decrease of 8 cents since 1999. (4)

• Women account for more than 60% of all minimum-wage workers, but just under half of all employees. 1 in 19 women compared with 1 in 30 men are working for minimum wage. (5)

• A female lead lone-parent family will have a median annual income of $17,000 less than the male counterpart. (6)

(1) Barriers to Training Access, Statistics Canada, 2009

(2) Employment Insurance, ACTEW, 2009

(3) Women and the EI Program, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2007

(4) Women in the Canadian Labour Market, ACTEW, 2007

(5) Perspectives on Labour and Income, Statistics Canada, October 2006

(6) The Daily, Statistics Canada, May 2008

Questions

How can training programs reach the high numbers of unemployed or underemployed workers who do not qualify for EI?

Why are EI eligible women in Ontario not accessing training?

What training programs are lifting women out of poverty?

EO Updates

The Service Delivery Advisory Group (SDAG) met with MTCU on August 18. The Province announced that it will likely begin the implementation of Employment Ontario this fall. Details on The ACTEW Blog.

As a follow-up to the August SDAG meeting and to highlight issues of high priority in the EO implementation, such as the importance of specialized services, the SDAG has written a letter to Laurie LeBlanc, the new MTCU Assistant Deputy Minister. Read the Letter on The ACTEW Blog

view inFocus archives for analysis on other key issues

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