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Women in Quebec are more likely to be in the workforce than women in Ontario and a new Statistics Canada study suggests that subsidized daycare may account for the gap.

The percentage of women 15 to 44 who participate in the labour force has been higher in Quebec than in Ontario since 2003, but while that percentage has continued to increase in Quebec — going from 78 per cent in 2003 to 81 per cent in 2016 — it has declined slightly in Ontario — from 77 per cent in 2003 to 75 per cent in 2016.

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That growth, according to Melissa Moyser and Anne Milan, the authors of the study, is largely due to a growing percentage of women with young children in the workforce.

The percentage of Quebec women in the workforce whose youngest child was under three rose 19 percentage points between 1996 and 2016, from 61 per cent to 80 per cent.

In Ontario, the participation rate among women whose youngest child was under three rose four percentage points, from 66 per cent in 1996 to 70 per cent in 2016.