The Impact of Violence on Labour Force Participation and Income in Canada: A Cross-sectional Study with Linked Survey and Tax Data

BackgroundViolence across the life course is a persistent global problem with well-documented health and social consequences. Less is known about its relationship with labour market outcomes in high-income countries with strong social protections, such as Canada. This study examines whether lifetime exposure to physical or sexual violence is associated with labour force participation (LFP), reasons for economic inactivity, sectoral and occupational sorting, and income. MethodsWe analyzed data from the 2018 Canadian Survey on Safety in Public and Private Spaces (SSPPS), a nationally representative cross-sectional survey linked to 2018 administrative tax records. The analytic sample included working-age adults (18-64) with complete data on violence exposure and labour market outcomes. Lifetime violence exposure captured childhood abuse, adulthood non-partner violence, and intimate partner violence. Outcomes included past-year LFP, part- versus full-time work, employment sector and occupation, and annual personal income. We described labour market patterns by gender and exposure and used inverse probability weighted regression adjustment (IPWRA) to estimate average treatment effects (ATEs) on economic inactivity, using unexposed men as the reference group. ResultsNearly 62 percent of respondents reported lifetime violence exposure (64.5 percent of women, 59.1 percent of men). Past-year labour force participation was high (85.9 percent overall) and showed minimal differences by exposure status: 82.0 percent of exposed women versus 80.3 percent of unexposed women, and 90.7 percent of exposed men versus 90.1 percent of unexposed men. IPWRA models indicated that, relative to unexposed men, exposed women had small but statistically significant increases in the probability of health-related inactivity (ATE: 0.009; 95%CI: 0.000-0.017) and early retirement (ATE: 0.015; 95%CI: 0.000 to 0.031), whereas ATEs for exposed men were small and non-significant across all outcomes. Sectoral and occupational distributions differed chiefly by gender; within-gender differences by exposure were limited. Income patterns were inconsistent by exposure status. For example, among women with secondary education or less, exposed women earned markedly less than unexposed women ($34,604 vs. $39,913), while differences among men were smaller and uniformly negative (exposed $74,981 vs. unexposed $75,208). ConclusionsIn Canadas welfare-state context, lifetime violence exposure shows limited association with labour force participation but may influence specific pathways into inactivity and sectoral sorting. Longitudinal analyses are needed to clarify longer-term economic impacts.