Job Termination
Women and men both quitting jobs at higher ratesGender gap narrowsThe gender gap with regard to quitting jobs and absenteeism at work has narrowed significantly over the last 13 years, a new study suggests. |
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 [ 2007-05-09 ] |
But that doesn't mean anyone's less likely to quit their job.
In 1984, 5.5% of men quit their job, compared with 7.4% of women, including women who did not return to work in the subsequent year due to maternity.
Ten years later, the rate for women was 6%, closer to the 5.5% quit rate for men. In 2002, the rates were 8.1% and 7.6%, respectively -- showing that quit rates for both men and women increased significantly over a short period of time.
There could be a number of explanations for this, said the study's author, Xuelin Zhang of Statistics Canada's business and labour market analysis division.
"It's a socio-economic trend that women's behaviour is (becoming) similar to that of men," he said, adding women have invested in higher education and want to make the most of it, he said.
CLOSE THE WAGE GAP
"More women are getting more assertive about what they're entitled to," said Anne Day, founder of Company of Women, a global network of women in business.
"In the past, this gender difference has been offered as an explanation for the wage gap between men and women," the report said.
Zhang suggested that while the data could be interpreted various ways, women could point to it in their argument to close the wage gap between the genders.
The study also examined three types of absences: paid sick absence; other paid absences; and unpaid absence. The "other paid absences" included education leave, disability leave, and leaves due to bereavement, marriage and jury duty.
On average, men took two days of paid sick absence, while women took about four days per year, the study said.
"Half of this gender difference in paid sick absence can be explained by factors such as age, wages and union status," the study concluded.
However, there were no gender differences in terms of the other paid and unpaid absences. The only exception was women with young children. On average, they took two more days of unpaid absences than women who did not have young children, the report found.
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