Estimating turnover and industry longevity of Canadian sex workers.

Abstract

How long indoor sex workers stay employed in collectives is a poorly understood aspect of sex worker agency in industrialized democracies. This study provides estimates of turnover, the rate at which workers leave employment, using a subsample of 76 collectives representing 3545 workers over a one-year period. All the collectives provided data on individual workers via external websites. The collectives were identified in a larger random sample of 783 advertisers from a popular Canadian classifieds site used by sex workers, all of whom provided URLs as part of their ad contact information. Monthly between October 2022 and October 2023, individual workers associated with the subsample of advertisers were identified from web pages maintained by these advertisers and scheduling data was collected where available. Worker turnover was estimated based on whether workers were visible one month to the next. Over the year, estimated turnover ranged from 12.0% to 16.0% (mean 14.2% SD 1.1%). Turnover was not affected by month or number of workers in the collectives. Mean 41.1% workers (SD 23.5%, N = 51 advertisers) were scheduled on any given day. Workers were visible for a mean 5.5 months (SD 4.5) with those visible for one month being the largest single group. Most sex workers in collectives are likely not permanent full time employees, and the extremely brief work histories of many suggest that failure in the industry may be common for this subpopulation.