In its first ever report on the economic status of single
mothers, Statistics Canada has found a marked improvement
in the earnings, employment rates and education levels of
women raising children alone. Conducted over a twenty-year
period (1981-2001), the report concludes that single mothers
now tend to be older, better educated and more employable
in 2001 than they were twenty years ago.
“The long-term increase in employment and earnings
of women with children is undoubtedly among the major historical
shifts of the past century,” states the report. Using
census data from 1981, 1991 and 2001, the Statscan survey
notes that this positive increase has occurred primarily
for older single mothers. Citing demographics as the cause
for this, the study reveals how the single-mother population
has changed over the past twenty years.
In 1981, single mothers were, by majority, born before 1950.
Yet throughout the 1980s and 90s, this population was replaced
by women born in the 1950s and 60s - the baby boomer generation.
Women of this generation possessed higher levels of education
and employment experience than those previous and, during
the range of the study, many of these women began entering
their forties, an age when employment and earnings typically
tend to be higher. By 2001, the number of single mothers
above 40 had increased by 13%, while the number of single
mothers under 30 fell.
Overall, the report found that average earnings among all
single mothers rose 39%, morever, the low-income rate dropped
from 59% to 48%. Higher education levels were an important
socio-economic factor in this, accounting for many of the
gains made by single mothers over the past twenty years.
Given the statistics - single mothers with some post-secondary
education rose to 49%, up from 28% in 1981 – this reflects
a larger trend of women now becoming more educated than previous
generations. As the data from the 2001 census shows, almost
70% of all women between the ages of 25-29 held a degree
or had completed a post-secondary certificate.
Gains for younger single mothers didn’t fare as well,
however. Annual earnings among younger single mothers have
remained "flat" over the 20-year period. While
average annual low-income earnings rose from $14,700 in 1981
to $19,900 in 2001, many younger single women actually saw
their earnings fall over the two decades. As the report asserts,
this reflects the general decline in earnings experienced
by all young workers over the past several decades. Writers
of the study also conclude that the gains made by older single
mothers in the past twenty years are a “historical
event unlikely to be repeated in the future,” as the “aging
of the baby boom mothers was a one-time event that will only
be faintly echoed as their children enter their child-bearing
years.”
Indeed, the overall gains for single mothers are not even
close to the advancement of married mothers. This population
saw their employment average earnings more than double between
1981 and 2001.
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