Last fall, Carleton University student Kate Yoshida was juggling her studies with a part-time job.
The 20 year old media production and design student was working in the communications department of the Canadian Forces Housing Agency.
“I took the job just because it was my first full-time summer job that was related to my field of study,” she said.
Yoshida began working full-time in July but moved to part-time to accommodate her university schedule.
“I was waking up at 6 a.m. and going to bed at midnight after doing all my homework. It took such a big toll on me mentally and physically.”
Yoshida’s job experience is not unusual. For a variety of reasons, Ontario women aged 15 to 24 are increasingly finding themselves working part-time.
Data from Statistics Canada’s February 2025 Labour Force Survey, the rate of women working part-time has steadily increased over the past year.
According to Capital Current’s analysis of StatsCan employment data, the number of women working part-time increased by four per cent between January and February 2025. Between those months, about 20,000 women moved from full-time to part-time jobs.
Data from Statistics Canada shows that the reasons are quite clear.
According to this Statistics Canada report, an overwhelming majority of young men and women in Ontario cite “going to school” as their main reason for seeking part-time work.
“It suggests that more young women are engaged in schooling than are men,” said Jane Stinson, a research associate with the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, who has published many papers on labour issues.
In 2021, 70.8 per cent of women in Ontario graduated with a postsecondary degree, diploma, or certificate compared to 64.7 per cent of men, according to the most recent Statistics Canada report about the highest levels of education.
Yoshida says her contract with the Canadian Forces Housing Agency required her to be in-person for 60 per cent of her work hours. She took that into account when making her university schedule.
“I decided to continue (working) into the fall because it was nice having extra income as a student trying to pay for rent and groceries,” Yoshida said.
Still, she ended up dropping her job entirely. The combination of school, work and the long commute was too much for her.
“Since all of my classes fall within the nine-to-five workday and require attendance, I would not be able to fulfill the requirements of a full-time job,” she said.
However, schooling is not the only reason women in this age range find themselves in part-time positions.
The types of jobs available to women also shape employment patterns. Women are more likely to work in industries offering part-time roles, while men dominate many sectors with full-time opportunities.
“It’s a very segregated labour market,” Stinson said. “Where women work and get employed, and where men work and get employed, are very, very different.”
Women tend to be more concentrated in health care, education, retail and other service sectors, where part-time jobs are more common, said Stinson.
By contrast, industries with a higher share of men, such as construction and manufacturing, are more likely to provide full-time positions.
Women have a harder time finding work in these sectors because “these are (physical) labour-intensive jobs, so females have less advantages compared to males in this age group,” says Tingting Zhang, a junior policy analyst specializing in women’s workforce development at the C.D. Howe Institute.
This divide means that even when women want entry-level full-time work, their options are often more limited than men’s.
Stinson adds that this trend contributes to the gender pay gap, as part-time workers usually earn less than full-time workers. “Women still have a barrier that way.”
The 15 to 24 cohort is also perceived as inexperienced compared to older age groups.
“For youths, I think the reason is because they are lacking skills; they’re still in a process of building their skills through these entry-level jobs, so part-time employment is common,” Zhang continues.
In January, Yoshida decided not to return to her job. The skills she gained from work were outweighed by the stress it was causing her.
“Ultimately, it cut into school, my extracurriculars and my social life,” she said. “I felt like I was missing out, and I wasn’t putting my best foot forward in school.”
