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The Impact of Having Children on Careers

This report presents the results of survey questions from the seventh wave of the Survey on Employment and Skills, asking Canadians who are in the labour force about their expectations and experiences relating to having children and its impact on their careers.

The findings address two related issues. The first concerns the penalties women face when they become mothers, notably loss of employment income and diminished career opportunities. The second is the concern that younger adults in Canada today may be less interested than previous generations were in having children.

The Survey on Employment and Skills is a multi-year research partnership conducted by the Environics Institute for Survey Research, in collaboration with the Future Skills Centre and the Diversity Institute.

Key insights

Among women, the proportion expecting a negative career impact from having children is highest for those who work in professional occupations or as an executive, manager or business owner, compared to other occupations.

Those who anticipate that having children would negatively impact their career are most likely to explain their view by mentioning reasons related to the diversion of time and attention away from work, including: the long hours involved in juggling work and family responsibilities; missing time at work while caring for young children; and not being able to focus exclusively on career development.

Mothers are less likely than fathers to say that the impact of having children on their career has been positive. In the case of fathers, the proportion who say parenthood has been beneficial far outweighs those who say it has been negative. For mothers, however, the numbers are more evenly split between positive reporting positive and negative impacts.