1

Time spent with family during a typical workday,

1986 to 2005

2007 Top Employer Summit

March 2007

Rosemary Bender, Statistics Canada

2

Research questions

Are workers spending more or less time with their family on a “typical workday”, compared to 20 years ago?

Are there different trends among different subgroups of workers?

How can we explain the changes in time spent with family from 1986 to 2005?

3

Family and workforce are changing

4

1981

Married couples without children

28.1%

Married couples with children

55.0%

Lone-parent families11.3%

Common-law couples with children

1.9%

Common-law couples without children

3.7%

Family Structure, Canada

Source: Statistics Canada, Censuses of Population

2001

Married couples without children

29.0%

Married couples with children

41.4%

Lone-parent families15.7%

Common-law couples with children

6.3%

Common-law couples without children

7.5%

Couples with children47.7%

Couples with children56.9%

5

The Canadian workforce* is aging, 1971-2021

30.1%

57.2%

12.7%19.7%

66.6%

13.7%14.4%

70.5%

9.6%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

15 to 24 years 25 to 54 years 55 to 64 years

1971 Census 2001 Census 2021 Projection**

* Workforce is defined as the population aged 15-64** Projection based on 2001 participation rates and 2021 medium population projectionsSource: Cansim Table 051-0014

Median Age of Working Population

1971 – 35.32001 – 38.32021 – 40.6

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Greater proportion of women are employed

%

% of women who are employed, 1986, 1992, 1998 and 2005.

0102030405060708090

25-29years

30-34years

35-39years

40-44years

45-64years

1986

1992

1998

2005

Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey.

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Main results

8

250

506

230

523

210

528

206

536

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Time spent with family Work and work-related activities

%

1986 1992 1998 2005

Time spent with family on a typical working day is decreasing, but time spent on work and work-related activities is increasing

Minutes

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Decline in family time among all categories of workers, but more importantly for…

Older workers aged 45 and over. Lone parents with at least one child aged 0

to 4. Workers in Ontario, the Prairies and B.C.

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Where has the time with family gone?

Time spent on working and on work-related activities increased during a typical workday (about 30 minutes from 1986 to 2005).

And… time spent alone at home is also increasing.

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Other findings

Workers are less involved in social activities outside the home than in 1986

Workers with a young family (i.e. who spend on average considerably more time with their loved ones) represent a smaller fraction of the working population

Women living with a spouse and young children are spending significantly more time with their family than men in the same situation.