Status of Women Committee on Dec. 10th, 2020

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Very good.

Now we'll go to Ms. Mathyssen for two and a half minutes.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Thank you.

I'd like to pick up where we left off on the extension of programs and benefits and looking at different alternatives. Certainly, for low-paid workers, having a guaranteed livable wage is key. New Democrats have been putting forward the idea of a basic income, a livable wage, so I wouldn't mind hearing you guys talk about that.

Also, there was mention of the ILO. They have had, since 2011, recommendation number 189 for countries to take on. It discusses and addresses unpaid work and domestic work. Canada hasn't signed on. I'm wondering how that would help to provide direction to Canada on this for unpaid work and care workers.

Thank you.

[Prof. Andrea Doucet]

They should definitely sign on to the ILO convention. Thank you for raising that point.

On the basic income, as you know, through COVID because of CERB there's been a really rich conversation. There's a UBC study that is about to come out soon, which looks at about five different models of the basic income or a minimum acceptable income. I'm looking forward to the research on this to see what version of this might work in a Canadian context.

I'll turn it over to Nora to see if she has anything to add.

[Nora Spinks]

No, I have nothing to add. Thank you.

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

We've heard about the child tax benefit. It certainly has helped some, but it doesn't help all. Moreover, how would a universal affordable child care system, with an act attached for provinces to ensure that universality, better impact families and parents in this economy?

[Prof. Andrea Doucet]

Well, you need both. The child benefit increases were so widely praised and accepted. It's a very important initiative, especially for low-income families and single-parent families, but it doesn't replace a national child care program. They need to go hand in hand in the same way that we need to improve and enhance our parental leave system. They all work together so that families can care for their children, be financially supported to care for their children and are assured that their children are well cared for.

In the Nordic countries, it's a right for children to have good care. In Sweden, for example, there's no gap between the end of parental leave and the beginning of child care. It's a child's right to good care. I would love to see Canada take that approach, which is looking through a child's rights approach that all people should have good care, especially children.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Unfortunately, we're out of time for the panel.

I want to thank our witnesses. You've been tremendous.

I want to inform the committee that we're going to suspend briefly to do another sound check before the next panel starts. Just hang tight.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I want to welcome everyone back for our second panel on our study on unpaid work.

We have with us from Statistics Canada, Josée Bégin, director general; Vincent Dale, director, labour market information; and Tina Chui, acting director, diversity and sociocultural statistics.

They have quite a bit of information to give, so they've requested to speak for 10 minutes. Because StatsCan is our only witness, I think it would be fine, unless there is an objection from the committee.

With that we'll go ahead for 10 minutes.

Are we starting with you, Mr. Dale?

[Josée Bégin, Director General, Labour Market, Education and Socio-Economic Well-Being, Statistics Canada]

No, Madam Chair. We are starting with me. I will be presenting on our behalf.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

That's great. You can go ahead.

[Josée Bégin]

Madam Chair, committee members, I would like to thank you for the opportunity today to share with you some observations on women's unpaid work.

In the time I have, I would like to begin with a portrait of unpaid work in Canada, including caregiving. The second part of my presentation will focus on the situation of health care support workers.

According to the most recent data from the general social survey, women spend more time than men doing unpaid work. Every five years, the results of this survey provide insights into the time use of Canadians, including time spent on unpaid work, which shed light on how Canadians make use of their time and what contributes to their well-being and stress levels. The most recent data on time use are from 2015.

In this survey, unpaid work is defined as the time spent doing housework, performing routine tasks related to the physical care of children, and providing care to an adult family member or friend.

In 2015, women spent an average of 2.8 hours per day on housework—54 minutes more than men, who spent 1.9 hours per day.

Women were more likely than men to perform routine tasks related to the care of children: 76% of women versus 57% of men. In addition, women spent almost one hour more per day than men on these tasks.

The proportion of women who provided care to an adult family member or friend on any given day was three times higher than the proportion of men in 2015. It was 3% for women compared with 1% for men. Among those who provided this care, women spent an average of 42 minutes more than men.

While women tend to spend more time than men on unpaid activities, they are less likely to be in the labour force. And for those who are, they are more likely to have a part-time job. According to data from the labour force survey, 57% of women in Canada were employed in 2015, compared with 65% of men.

In addition, women who were employed generally spent on average 6.9 hours less per week at work than men, all jobs combined. This was 29.6 hours versus 36.5 hours.

The situation in November was similar: 56% of women were employed, compared with 65% of men. What is more, women worked 5.8 hours less per week than men, based on seasonally unadjusted data from the labour force survey.

It is important to recognize that the disproportionate unpaid work done by women for their families favours the higher labour force participation rate and longer working hours of men.

Reflecting this disproportionate share of unpaid work, women were also more likely than men to feel time pressures. In 2015, 49% of women aged 25 to 54 in Canada reported that, at the end of their day, they had often not accomplished what they had set out to do, compared with 43% of men. In addition, 69% of women said they felt stressed when they didn’t have enough time, versus 60% of men. Finally, 46% of women reported feeling constantly under stress trying to accomplish more than they can handle, as opposed to 40% of men.

In April, Statistics Canada conducted a voluntary data collection survey on mental health during the pandemic. The results show that the women who took part in the survey were more likely than men to say that their life had been moderately or severely stressful. More precisely, 30.5% of part of women surveyed said that their life had been moderately or severely stressful during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to 24% for men.

It's possible that some women reported higher anxiety than men because the quarantine heightened the unequal sharing by women and men of unpaid family work, by which we mean caring for children and household work. The closing of daycare centres, schools and businesses like restaurants and dry cleaners may have led women to do additional unpaid household tasks that would normally have been sent out to paid services, or for which they could formerly rely on help from parents or friends.

Furthermore, according to the findings of the Canadian Perspectives Survey Series 3: Resuming Economic and Social Activities During COVID-19, employment and the workplace, both of which have been considerably affected by the pandemic, have an impact on how couples share parenting tasks.

More specifically, when men were unemployed or working at home, it appeared to encourage sharing more of the parenting tasks, because men in such situations were more likely to say that parenting tasks had been shared equally, compared to men who had a job and were working away from home. However, when the opposite was the case, with the women out of work or working at home, they were more likely to say that they were mainly responsible for parenting tasks and less likely to say that these were shared equally.

I would also like to mention the circumstances of paid work for women, and more specifically support workers in the health field. These workers contributed enormously in recent months in the combat against COVID-19, and the vast majority of them are women.

The COVID-19 pandemic put the spotlight on the key role performed by these workers. In addition to the risk of contamination to which they are exposed, the media described the poor working conditions in which they sometimes had to work, and the shortage of workers in this sector of the economy.

According to the seasonally adjusted data in the Labour Force Survey, there were 300,000 health support workers in November, defined in the survey as nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates. This number was relatively stable compared to the same period last year.

In several respects, however, their working conditions were much worse than for most workers.

In November, their average hourly wage was approximately $22, about $8 less than the national average. These employees also worked for approximately three fewer hours per week than average and were slightly more likely to be working in temporary jobs and to have more than one job. More specifically, in November, health support workers worked 29 hours, compared to 32 hours for other employees, and 15% of them were in temporary jobs, compared to 11% for other employees. Furthermore, 6% of health support workers had more than one job, compared to 4% for other employees.

The Labour Force Survey data show that for many immigrants, these professions are a way to enter the labour market. Indeed, four of ten health support workers in November were immigrants, compared to one of four for other jobs. These data also show that these employees are clearly…

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I'm sorry, but your speaking time is up.

We will get the rest of it when we go to questions.

We'll start with Ms. Wong for six minutes.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

To the panellists from Statistics Canada, thank you for a very detailed report on the statistics that you collected in 2015. It echoes what our two former panellists just said.

My question is about the market rates. Do you have a dollar figure for how much the labour of unpaid care workers would translate to if they were paid market rates? Do you have that data, please?

Either of the panellists can answer this question.

[Josée Bégin]

Madam Chair, if I understood the question correctly, it's about giving a figure or value in terms of the amount that unpaid work would represent. Is that correct?

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Yes.

[Josée Bégin]

I can start, and I will ask my colleagues Vincent and Tina if there's anything to add at the end.

The value of household work in Canada was last updated in 1992. Prior to that, it was updated in 1986 and in 1971. As of 1992, the value of household work was estimated to be between 31% and 46% of gross domestic product, depending on the method chosen to evaluate that amount.

It hasn't been measured since then in terms of dollar value. This is in relation to a framework on how we measure gross domestic product. We would be happy to share additional information around that if necessary.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Thank you.

I remember that in 2015 the ministry for seniors did a study on the loss of productivity for these caregivers who choose not to have full-time jobs or not to have a promotion because of that. I hope some of the data might be still there.

Another question is about the type of data collected. The previous panellist also mentioned qualitative data. Yes, it is important that we put numbers in, as I just asked about on loss of productivity, but there's also the qualitative side of it.

Has Statistics Canada done any qualitative research? Of course, showing caregiving is not that easy, but is there anything even close to that?

[Josée Bégin]

Madam Chair, I wonder if my colleague Tina could explain the type of qualitative work that has been done around the general social survey.

Tina.

[Tina Chui, Acting Director, Diversity and Sociocultural Statistics, Statistics Canada]

Madam Chair, thank you for the opportunity to speak.

I agree. Qualitative work is very important. Madam Spinks, from the Vanier Institute of the Family, talked about the dynamic of unpaid work, which is a relationship. It's personal. Therefore, it is very hard to measure or quantify that in a large-scale survey.

At Statistics Canada, whenever we develop a survey, we start with qualitative research. We will still have the survey aspect, asking in the form of questions, but in terms of developing the questions, we use qualitative methods, focus groups and whatnot, to make sure that what we intend to measure is understood by our respondents.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

Thank you.

Next, are there any recommendations that you would make to the government, both on the economic side and on the well-being side of the family caregivers, in terms of what they could have done or what they should do?

It's not meant to criticize, so I think you are pretty safe in speaking freely.

[Josée Bégin]

Madam Chair, I will start on behalf of Statistics Canada.

I think it would be difficult for us to answer that question. For us, it is key that we do ask questions of our respondents that are well understood and that are meaningful. We do understand that the topic of unpaid work is very important. As Tina mentioned, it is measured by the general social survey.

In terms of recommendations to the government, I think it would be hard for us to answer that question.

[Alice Wong, Conservative, Richmond Centre, BC]

My next question is about labour market.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Actually, you're out of time, Alice.

We're going to Ms. Zahid for six minutes.

[Salma Zahid, Liberal, Scarborough Centre, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thanks to Statistics Canada for providing some important information.

You mentioned the data from 2015, and that approximately 76% of women versus 57% of men were spending time with their children and raising children.

Do you have any data after 2015, since the Liberals came into power and implemented the shared parental leave? Has shared parental leave made some difference? Do we see changes in the time being spent by women to raise their kids?

Anyone can take that.

[Josée Bégin]

Madam Chair, I will turn to my colleague, Tina. She can maybe address the frequency of the general social survey and when would be the next time that we will be measuring the unpaid work.