More and more working women are being covered by registered pension plans in both the public and private sectors, according to new data from Statistics Canada released today.

In fact, while the number of women in a registered plan increased by 2.4% to just under 2.57 million, the number of men in a similar plan fell 0.1% to 2.96 million.

“In total, more than 5.52 million workers were covered by 14,376 registered pension plans at the end of 2002, up one% from a year earlier and the fifth consecutive annual increase,” the agency said in a release.

However, the growth did not keep pace with the 4% rise in employment.

“Women made significant gains in public administration, educational and health care services, retail trade and finance, insurance and real estate,” the agency said.

For men, the slight drop occurred in the private sector even though the number of males covered in the public sector rose slightly.

Meanwhile, the government agency said trusteed pension funds closed out the first quarter of 2004 with assets much higher than they were just 12 months earlier when they had hit a four-year low.

As of March 31, 2004, trusteed pension funds had assets worth $652.9 billion, 22.9% higher than the $531.2 billion at the same time in 2003, which was the lowest level since 1999.

StatsCan said assets rose 4.6% in the first quarter compared with the last quarter of 2003, the fourth quarterly gain in a row.