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 women’s employment 1998, Cat. No. 4102.0)
- In 2005, the female participation rate is around 58% (ABS, Labour Force Australia 2008, December 2008, Cat. No. 6202.0).
The majority of families (61.8%) in Queensland, where at least one parent is employed, either one or both parents used a range of work arrangements (most frequently flexible working hours and permanent part-time work) to care for their children. Seventy-three per cent of employed mothers and 34 per cent of employed fathers use work arrangements to care for their children (ABS Child Care Survey 2005, Cat. No. 4402)
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 20.8% in 2007 (ABS Family Characteristics 2007).
In couple families with children aged under 15 years:
- both parents are employed in 62.8% of cases; and
- neither parent is employed in 4.2% of cases (ABS, Australian Social Trends 2007)
In single parent families with children aged under 15 years:
- 54.5% of single parents are either employed or looking for employment; and
- 45.5% of single parents are not looking for work (ABS Census 2006)
Between 1985 and 2005, the proportion of full-time workers working a standard 35-40 hour week declined from 49% to 41%. 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 21%) (ABS, Australian Social Trends, Work: State Summary 2008, Cat. No. 4102.0 & ABS, Australian Social Trends, Trends in Hours Worked, 2006, Cat. No. 4102.0).
The increase between 1985 and 2005 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.
The proportion of female full-time workers working 50 hours or more per week almost doubled from 9% in 1985 to 16% in 2005 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 2005, 30% of male full-time workers were working 50 hours or more per week, up from 22% in 1985 (ABS, Australian Social Trends, Working Longer Working Hours, Trends in Hours Worked, 2006, Cat. No. 4102.0).
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Productivity Indicators (2008) ranks Australia 15th out of 30 developed countries for average annual hours worked per employee. Australian workers on average work 350 hours a year more than their counterparts in the Netherlands and more than 50 hours a year than their counterparts in the United Kingdom.
In 2005 Australia had the 9th highest amount of women working 45 hours and over per week in the OECD at around 15%, behind Turkey, Japan, Mexico, Greece, Korea, Poland, New Zealand and Iceland. Men were ranked ninth at around 40% behind Greece, Korea, Turkey, Iceland, Mexico, New Zealand, Japan and the UK (OECD Usual Working Hours by Gender 2007).
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 21 July 2009
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