Gender Dimensions of Human Capital Growth in Canada
Abstract
This paper estimates the growth rates of the stock of human capital and its two components - the labour input and the level of educational attainment -for Canada over the period from 1976 to 2000, separately for males and females, to determine the impact of gender differences. Three measures are used: the first is based on the population in the age range 15-64, the second on the labor force, and the third on employment. The results show that gender made little difference in the growth rate of the population based stock of human capital because the gender differences in the growth rates of the labour input and educational attainment were small. Gender differences accounted for over one-quarter of the growth rate of the human capital stock when measured with respect to the labour force or employment. This effect was largely due to the rapid increase in the participation rate of females. The gender effect was not due to higher rates of human capital accumulation by females, but by their increasing willingness to make the human capital they acquired available for market activities.