Work, family and lifestyle statistics
- In 1954, less than one in three women (29%) in Australia was employed. (ABS, Australian Social Trends, Work Paid work: Trends in womens employment 1998, Cat. No. 4102.0)
- In 2005, the female participation rate is around 57.0% (ABS, Labour Force Australia 2006, March 2006, Cat. No. 6202.0).
The majority of women (52.8%) in Queensland have caring responsibilities for children and elderly parents, and with more women participating in the labour force, balancing work and family responsibilities has become an important issue (ABS Census 2001).
The traditional family model is now less prevalent in Australia with data showing that the occurrence of families with at least one child with a father in full-time employment and the mother at home has decreased from 30.1% in 1996 to 19.7% in 2001 (ABS Census 2001).
The majority of workers with family responsibilities are caring for children. In 2001, 29.2% of Queensland workers were the primary carers of a child under 15 years (ABS, Census 2001).
In couple families with children aged under 15 years:
- both parents are employed in 56.5% of cases; and
- neither parent is employed in 8.5% of cases (ABS Census 2001)
In single parent families with children aged under 15 years:
- 45.4% of single parents are employed; and
- 54.6% of single parents are unemployed (ABS Census 2001)
Between 1982 and 2002, the proportion of full-time workers working a 40 hour week declined from 39% to 24%. While this was accompanied by a slight increase in the proportion of full-time workers working less than 40 hours per week, most of the shift was towards longer working hours. The greatest increase was in the proportion of full-time workers working 50-59 hours per week (from 10% to 16%) (ABS, Australian Social Trends, Work Paid work: Longer working hours 2003, Cat. No. 4102.0).
The increase between 1982 and 2002 in the average number of hours worked by all full-time workers appears to be the result of a growing number of people working 50 hours or more per week. In August 2002, around 1.7 million Australians worked 50 hours or more per week, twice as many as in 1982. As a proportion of full-time workers, those working 50 hours or more per week increased from 20% to 30% (ABS, Australian Social Trends, Work Paid work: Longer working hours 2003, Cat. No. 4102.0).
The proportion of female full-time workers working 50 hours or more per week almost doubled from 10% in 1982 to 19% in 2002, and may be linked to increasing representation of women in managerial and professional occupations. That said, very long working hours remain more common among men. In 2002, 35% of male full-time workers were working 50 hours or more per week, up from 23% in 1982 (ABS, Australian Social Trends, Work Paid work: Longer working hours 2003, Cat. No. 4102.0).
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Employment Outlook (2004) ranks both Australia and Slovak Republic as the 5th highest country for hours worked per worker, behind the Czech Republic, Poland, Greece and Mexico.
In 2002 Australia had the 6th highest amount of women working 45 hours and over per week in the OECD at around 14%, behind Turkey, Japan, Mexico, Greece and Iceland. Men were ranked seventh at around 35% behind Turkey, Iceland, Mexico, New Zealand, Japan and the UK (OECD Employment Outlook 2004).
For more information access the Australian Bureau of Statistics (non-Queensland Government link) or the website of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (non-Queensland Government link).
Last updated 2 October 2008
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