Educational attainment - A key to autonomy and authority in the workplace - ARCHIVED

People with jobs involving supervision, management and decision-making have the opportunity to develop skills that are transferable to other organizations: leadership, communication, organization and management skills, for example. In addition, as supervisors and managers, they may have increased occasion to network with others, which may enhance their opportunity to further their career progression. As a result, in today's increasingly competitive labour market, those whose role in their organization includes supervision, management and decision-making responsibilities may be better able to advance their careers and to recover from a job loss. Results from analysis of data from the 1993 Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) and the 1994 General Social Survey (GSS), indicate that, with few exceptions, education is one of the strongest predictors of an individual's ability to access occupations offering autonomy and authority in the workplace. This remains true, even after the effects of factors that also influence access to these types of positions, such as gender, age, firm size, years of work experience and industry, are taken into consideration.