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To the question: What is the share of Canadian families with two parents working full year, full time? A. About one-quarter or B. Nearly a third.
The correct answer is B: Nearly a third. According to Census data, the proportion of Canadian families with both parents working full time and full year more than doubled between 1980 and 2005, from 15% to 32%. A good deal of the increase in parental work time occurred in the 1980s and was induced by the rising labour market participation of mothers.
On the other hand, the share of families with one parent working full year, full time, and another parent not working declined substantially, from 27% to 12%.
Top earnings families had a larger share of two parents working full year and full time than those with lower earnings.
Chart - Proportion of families with two full-year, full-time working parents doubles
Note: Families in which neither parent worked are excluded.
Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Canada, 1981 to 2006.
Table - Proportion of families with two full-year, full-time working parents doubles
Source: Changes in parental work time and earnings - HTML | PDF
