ABS employment data indicates female participation trends still intact

The monthly release of Australian employment data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics continues to support the position that female work force participation trends are positive with particular relative growth in the full time work category.

According to this month’s data release 31.3 per cent of women in Australia are currently working full time. This compares to 29.8 per cent in May 2015 and represents an increase of about 284,000 more women holding full time jobs today as opposed to four years ago.

With respect to part time work, the trend has been less pronounced with 26.6 per cent of women in Australia now working in part time jobs. This compares to 26.0 per cent in May 2015 and represents an increase of around 193,000 more women working in part time roles.

The percentage of women classed as “Not in the Labour Force” (NILF) continues to probe new lows with a reading of 39 per cent recorded last month.

The NILF category represents women who are not working in a formal full time and / or part time capacity and are not actively seeking work. This compares to the unemployed classification that represents those that are currently not working but are actively seeking work.

Of note in these statistics is that since the introduction of the Child Care Subsidy legislation introduced in July 2018, which was designed to target workforce participation. Since its advent, there has been a notable step up in full time female workforce participation and a step down in female’s classified as not in the labor force.

For more information on the latest employment data please click here.