Women in federally regulated workforce declining: study – iPolitics

While the focus of the article is with respect to women, the other results are just as interesting (the largest federally regulated industries are telecoms, banking and transport, and the large retail presence in the first two – think of those cell phone pop-up stands or bank branches – mean strong representation of visible minorities):

The Employment Equity Act Annual Report tracks employment in federal federally regulated industries such as banking, communications and transportation.

The study found that transportation companies had the worst track record when it came to employment equity. Women made up only 27.2 per cent of the employees in private sector transportation sector companies, 14.2 per cent of the workforce were members of visible minorities and 2 per cent had a disability. The only area in which the transportation industry fared better than others was with aboriginal peoples who made up 2.8 per cent of the employees.

The banking sector had the best track record with three of the four employment equity groups. Women made up 61.5 per cent of the workforce in banking, 30.2 per cent were members of visible minorities and 4 per cent had a disability. However, banking had the lowest proportion of aboriginal Canadians of any sector at 1.3 per cent.

Communications came up the middle with women at 37.4 per cent, visible minorities at 18.6 per cent, people with disabilities at 2.3 per cent and aboriginal peoples making up 1.8 per cent of the employees.

In a fourth category that mixed several different federally regulated industries from metal ore mining and wood to public administration or professional, scientific and technical services, 30.9 per cent of employees were women, 12.2 per cent came from visible minorities, 4.5 per cent were aboriginal and 2.6 per cent had disabilities.

…There was a gap between men and women who come from visible minorities. While 52.1 per cent of visible minority men working in federally regulated industries earned over $60,000, that dropped to 39.8 per cent of women.

Overall, employment equity in federally regulated sectors is improving, the study found.

“Employers are showing greater interest and awareness in employment equity through their commitment to implementing short-term and long-term measures in the workplace, including improvements to hiring and retention processes, accessible training and networking opportunities for advancement and overall evidence of employment equity integration into day-to-day activities.”

Source: Women in federally regulated workforce declining: study – iPolitics