Labour force activity of women in Canada; a comparative analysis of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women

En s' appuyant sur les donn,es du Fichier de microdonn,es a grande diffusion (FMGD) de 1996 sur les individus, cet article examine l'activit, sur le march, du travail des femmes au Canada en mettant l'accent sur les effets du statut familial et de la structure du m,nage pour d,terminer si ces facteurs ont des r,ponses ,lastiques similaires chez les femmes autochtones et non autochtones. Nous avons trouv, que cette activit, varie largement en fonction du statut d'autochtone. En g,n,ral, les Indiens de plein droit avaient moins de chances de trouver un emploi que les autres autochtones ou les non-autochtones. Alors que le niveau d'instruction, la pr,sence d'enfants mineurs et la monoparentalit, semblaient associ,s a une probabilit, plus basse d'emploi, des diff,rences significatives en fonction du statut d'autochtone ont ,t, d,cel,es. Les r,percussions sur l'emploi du niveau d'instruction se sont r,v,l,es plus fortes chez les Indiens de plein droit. Using data from the 1996 Public Use Microdata File (PUMF) on individuals, this paper examines labour force activity of women in Canada, focussing on the effects of familial status and household structure to determine whether these factors have similar elasticities among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women. We found that labour force activity varied greatly by Aboriginal Status. In general, Registered Indians were less likely to be employed but more likely to be unemployed than Other Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals. While lower educational attainment, presence of minor children and lone parenthood were found to be associated with a lower likelihood of being employed, significant differences by Aboriginal Status were found. The effect of educational attainment on employment was found to be higher among Registered Indians.
AS LEVESQUE ET AL. (2001: 13) WRITE, '...scientists in Canada and Quebec have paid little attention to date on the living and working conditions of Aboriginal women.' The present study [...]