Today in data
From Statistics Canada, 2 news items:
Obesity on the job
In 2005, 15.7% of employed Canadians aged 18 to 64, or more than two million people, were obese, up from 12.5% in the mid-1990s.
Obesity becomes more than just a personal health issue when it begins to affect job performance. The odds of being absent from work were almost four times higher for obese young men aged 18 to 34 than for those with normal weight, after controlling for socioeconomic and health-related factors.
Obesity was also related to reduced work activities, more disability days, and higher rates of work injury for women aged 35 to 54.
Obesity was most prevalent among older workers aged 55 to 64, 21% of whom were obese in 2005.
Who participates in active leisure?
Between 1992 and 2005, the participation rate in active leisure rose while the time spent doing these activities remained the same. Results from this article include:
- Participation in exercise, as well as walking and jogging, grew from 1992 to 2005.
- Although sports participation remained about the same in 1992 and 2005, people were slightly more likely to go swimming, possibly due to the hotter summer in 2005. Also, Canadians are moving away from organized sports to informal sports activity in their leisure time.
- Groups more likely to participate in active leisure while holding other factors constant were: women, university-educated people, married people, and those with incomes of $60,000 and over, those who reported their lives had a relatively low level of time stress, and those living in British Columbia or Quebec.