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Record numbers of Canadian women are active members of the labour force, while south of the border, those numbers are dipping, a new Statistics Canada study shows.

The strange divergence in the labour force participation rates of women in Canada and the United States remains something of a mystery.

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The federal study found that participation rates among Canadian and U.S. women in their prime working years (aged 25 to 54) were almost identical in 1997. Since then, however, the rate among Canadian women has climbed five percentage points to 81 per cent, while in the U.S., it has fallen three percentage points to 74 per cent.

During the same time period, the difference in the participation rates between Canadian and U.S. men remained relatively small and stable. (The labour force participation rate for Canadian men was 91 per cent in 2014.)

Statistics Canada researchers came up with a number of possible explanations for the cross-border labour gap among women. The study suggests differences in economic conditions, educational attainment levels, earnings growth and parental leave entitlements may have all played roles in widening the divide.