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Occupational diversity in Canada's Parliament???

Another update to material that is presented in the women and politics text I'm currently revising. For some reason this was more than a pain to do than I thought it would be. The major problem is how parliamentarians report their previous occupations varies quite a bit from how Statistics Canada categorizes occupations in Canada. This required a fair amount of interpretation of where the MPs' self-description would fit in the statistical categories. The second problem is that the categories are  remarkably broad, for example the business, finance and administration occupations run a range from bank tellers and clerical administration to bank owners and finance capitalists. It is interesting to note that as a whole this category in Canada as a whole skews towards women's participation, possibly a testimony to the feminization of the FIRE industries, i.e., Finance, Insurance and Real Estate. What the chart does indicate is how MP's both male and female are drawn from professional occupations rather than non-professional occupations like retail sales. MPs' tend to be drawn from the legal, business, government service professions. This doesn't particularly match the occupational breakdown of Canadian society as a whole.

 A Comparison of Occupations and MPs’ Previous Occupations, January 2018
% of Canadian women employed in this occupation, 2017
% of women MPs employed in this occupation, occupation, 42nd Parliament
Occupation WOMEN

Management
6.7
12.9
Business, finance and administration
22.8
14.1
Natural sciences/engineering/mathematics
3.7
2.3
Professional Occupation in law, social, community and government services
3.7
21.1
Para professional occupation in legal social, community and education
4.7
12.9
Professional occupations in education services
5.6
12.9
Occupations in frontline public protection services
0.2
2.3
Professional Occupations in health (except nursing)
2.3
4.7
Nursing
3.5
4.7
Artistic/literary/journalist
3.4
7.0
Sales and service
28.6
1.1
Natural resources, agriculture and related production occupations
0.73
-
Trades, transport, and construction
2.0
-
Processing, manufacturing, and utilities
2.7
1.1

 % of Canadian men employed in this occupation, 2017
% of men MPs employed in this occupation, 42nd Parliament
Occupation MEN


Management
11.6
8.6
Business and finance
9.4
14.3
Natural sciences/engineering/mathematics
11.3
4.5
Professional Occupation in law and social community and government services
1.9
29.1
Para professional occupation in legal social, community and education
0.6
3.3
Professional occupations in education services
2.3
13.9
Occupations in frontline public protection services
0.92
6.6
Professional Occupations in health (except nursing)
1.4
1.2
Nursing
0.36
-
Artistic/literary/journalism
2.8
10.2
Sales and service
18.8
0.4
Natural resources, agriculture and related production occupations – inc. faming
3.1
8.2
Trades, transport, and construction
25.4
3.3
Processing, manufacturing, and utilities
6.5
0.4

 Sources: Statistics Canada (2017); Library of Parliament, Parliamentarians, https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/parliamentarians http://www.parl.gc.ca,

<End table>

Statistics Canada. Table 282-0142 Labour Force Survey Estimates (LFS) by National Occupation Classification (NOC) and sex, annual. CANSIM. Accessed February 4, 2018 & Library of Parliament, Parliamentarians. https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/parliamentarians. Accessed February 1, 2018


 Now having spent two days working on this, I'm not sure how important it is to include in the chapter and might go with a more generalized breakdown from Samara Canada, that interestingly points out how there has been a rise in self-identified "farmers" in the House of Commons.

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