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LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION ACROSS AUSTRALIA LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATES(a) FOR MEN AND WOMEN (a) For people aged 15 years and over. Source: ABS 1986-2006 Censuses of Population and Housing. By age and sex The labour force participation rate of both men and women varies over the life course. For both sexes, participation in the labour force tends to be lower in the teenage years, before rising in the twenties as people complete educational qualifications and begin a career. The rate for men tends to stay quite high until they reach their sixties when many men retire. For women, the labour force participation rate tends to dip during the peak childbearing years between ages 25 and 44 years. Delayed childbearing and an increased propensity for women to combine work and family has seen this dip become later and less pronounced than in the past. The decline in the participation rates of women in the older age groups occurs at a younger age than for men, reflecting the fact that women tend to retire earlier. LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATES OF MEN AND WOMEN BY AGE - 2006 Source: ABS 2006 Census of Population and Housing. By Remoteness Areas Labour force participation can also be examined from a geographic perspective as economic and social circumstances may vary from cities to regional and remote areas. In 2006, the labour force participation rate in Major Cities was 66%, slightly above the national average of 65%. The labour force participation rate was lower in Inner Regional (61%) and Outer Regional (64%) areas and higher in Remote (70%) and Very Remote (68%) areas. In part these differences reflect the different age structures across Remoteness Areas. In particular, since the labour force participation rate is based on the entire population aged 15 years and over, areas that have a relatively high proportion of people aged 65 years and over, many of whom are retired, will tend to have lower rates of labour force participation than will areas with a relatively small share of their population aged 65 years and over (see Australian Social Trends 2008, Population distribution). After adjusting for age differences, the labour force participation rates between the different areas converge, indicating that to a large extent differences in observed rates of labour force participation between Remoteness Areas are explained by differences in the age structure of their populations. The age-standardised labour force participation rates for Inner Regional (63%) and Outer Regional (65%) areas increased slightly from the unadjusted rates, reflecting the older age profile of these areas. By contrast, the age-standardised labour force participation rates for Remote (68%) and Very Remote (63%) areas were lower than the corresponding unadjusted rates, reflecting their younger age profiles. The age-standardised rate for Major Cities (65%) was also slightly lower than the unadjusted rate. Between 1996 and 2006, the age-standardised labour force participation rate increased by a similar magnitude across all Remoteness Areas. Overall, the age-standardised labour force participation rate increased by four percentage points in each Remoteness Area, with rates increasing by one to two percentage points for men, and by six to eight percentage points for women. LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATES(a) BY REMOTENESS AREAS (a) Rates have been age standardised and are for people aged 15 years and over. Source: ABS 2006 Census of Population and Housing. PARTICIPATION ACROSS PARTICULAR GROUPS Strong economic growth between 1996 and 2006 saw a considerable increase in the labour force participation rate and a marked decline in Australia's unemployment rate. These trends were widespread and benefited a broad cross-section of groups, including men and women aged 55-64 years, women with young children and Indigenous people. LABOUR FORCE STATUS OF SELECTED POPULATION GROUPS(a)
(b) Worked between 1 and 34 hours in the week prior to Census night. (c) Proportion of all employed people, including those who worked 0 hours in the week prior to Census night. Source: ABS 1996 and 2006 Censuses of Population and Housing. People aged 55-64 years The labour force participation rate of people aged 55-64 years has traditionally been lower than for younger age groups as many people retire from the labour force around this age. A number of policy initiatives have been introduced in recent years, such as the Mature Age Workers Tax Offset in 2004, to encourage older workers to delay retirement. 3 According to Census data, between 1996 and 2006 there was a rise in the labour force participation rate of both men and women aged 55-64 years. While the participation rate for women overall rose in the ten years to 2006 (from 53% to 58%), the increase in the participation rate for women aged 55-64 years was considerably larger (up 17 percentage points, from 31% to 48%). The participation rate among men aged 55-64 years rose seven percentage points to 68% between 1996 and 2006, while the overall rate for males remained steady at around 72%. Although the increase in the participation rate of women has been much more pronounced than for men, almost half (48%) of women aged 55-64 years who were employed in 2006 were working part-time, compared with one in five (20%) employed men of this age. The large increase in labour force participation among women aged 55-64 years was evident across all Remoteness Areas, but particularly in Very Remote areas (up from 30% in 1996 to 56% in 2006). The increases for men aged 55-64 years over this period were relatively modest across most areas, with the exception of Very Remote areas where the participation rate rose by 15 percentage points to 73% in 2006. For this age group, the rise in labour force participation rates was coupled with a considerable fall in the unemployment rate for both men and women. LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATES OF MEN AND WOMEN AGED 55-64 YEARS BY REMOTENESS AREAS Source: ABS 1996 and 2006 Censuses of Population and Housing. Women with young children Women with young children have also been identified as a key focus of policies aimed at lifting labour force participation in recent years. 4 The Child Care Tax Rebate, for example, first introduced in 2004-05, aimed to encourage the labour force participation of mothers with young children by increasing the affordability of child care. According to Census data, between 1996 and 2006 the participation rate of mothers with children aged 0-14 years rose from 59% to 64%. The rise was particularly pronounced among lone mothers (up from 50% to 59%). In 2006, employed mothers with children aged 0-14 years were much more likely to be working part-time (59% of both employed lone mothers and employed mothers in couple families) than were employed women overall (45%). The labour force participation rates of mothers also varied according to the age of their youngest child. In 2006, the participation rate among mothers with children aged 0-4 years was lower (52%) than those whose youngest child was aged 5-9 years (71%) and 10-14 years (77%). Mothers in Major Cities were slightly more likely than those elsewhere to be in the labour force when their youngest child was aged 0-4 years (53% compared with 51%). However, mothers in Major Cities whose youngest child was aged 5-14 years were less likely to be in the labour force than were their counterparts in Inner Regional, Outer regional or Remote areas (73% in Major Cities compared with 76% in each of the other areas). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples Indigenous Australians benefited to some extent from the economic prosperity of the period from 1996 to 2006, with a slight rise in the labour force participation rate (from 53% to 55%) and a considerable fall in the unemployment rate (from 23% to 16%). The Indigenous labour force participation and employment figures from the 2006 Census include people participating in the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme. The CDEP scheme enables members of Indigenous communities, particularly in Remote and Very Remote areas, to exchange unemployment benefits for opportunities to undertake paid work and training in activities managed by a local Indigenous community organisation. As the age profile of the Indigenous population is much younger than that of the non-Indigenous population, a comparison of specific age groups is more informative than a comparison of the standard labour force participation rate for all people aged 15 years and over. In the 2006 Census, the participation rate of Indigenous people aged 25-44 years was 62% compared with 83% for the non-Indigenous population of the same age. For those aged 15-24 years, the rates for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people were 51% and 67%, respectively. Among all people aged 15-64 years, the difference in labour force participation was around 19 percentage points (57% for Indigenous compared with 76% for non-Indigenous Australians). Higher levels of education or qualifications, in terms of both years of schooling completed and non-school qualifications, are generally associated with increased employment opportunities. Although the proportion of Indigenous Australians aged 15 years and over with non-school qualifications doubled from 12% to 24% over the decade to 2006, it remained low compared with the non-Indigenous population (46% in 2006). When looking just at those people with non-school qualifications, the Indigenous labour force participation rate is roughly comparable with that of non-Indigenous Australians. In 2006, the participation rate of Indigenous Australians aged 15-64 years with non-school qualifications was 81%, compared with 86% for non-Indigenous people. LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE OF PEOPLE WITH NON-SCHOOL QUALIFICATIONS BY INDIGENOUS STATUS AND AGE - 2006 Source: ABS 2006 Census of Population and Housing. LOOKING AHEAD Labour force participation increased among the groups discussed in this article over the decade to 2006. There is still potential for participation rates to increase further. Such increases could occur in response to increased demand for labour and be facilitated by flexibility in working arrangements, allowing people to better balance work and other activities, especially caring (See Australian Social Trends 2008, Barriers to work). Opportunities to maintain a highly skilled and adaptive workforce through ongoing education and training will also help shape the characteristics of the Australian labour force into the future (see Australian Social Trends 2008, Adult learning). MORE INFORMATION Data sources and definitions Data presented in this article are mainly from the most recent Census of Population and Housing, conducted in August 2006. Data presented are based on place of usual residence. Census labour force data presented in this article are different to August 2006 Labour Force Survey estimates due to a number of factors, including differences in collection methodology (see Australian Labour Market Statistics, October 2007 (cat. no. 6105.0)). However, these differences have minimal impact on the analysis in this article. Census data, particularly data relating to Indigenous Australians in Very Remote areas, are affected by undercount (see Census of Population and Housing - Details of Undercount (cat. no. 2940.0)). In 2006, the net undercount (i.e. people missed in the Census, minus those counted more than once) rate for the whole of Australia was estimated at around 2.7%. This may have an impact on data presented for Very Remote areas. In addition, around 5.7% of people did not report their Indigenous status on the Census form. Despite these issues, census data are used in this article to allow for more detailed analysis of variations between smaller population groups and small geographic areas than is possible with Labour Force Survey data. Employed people are those aged 15 years and over who worked for payment or profit, or as an unpaid helper in a family business, during the week prior to Census night, or had a job from which they were on leave or otherwise temporarily absent, or were on strike or stood down temporarily. Unemployed people are those aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the week prior to Census night and had actively looked for work in the previous four weeks and were available to start work in the week prior to Census night. The labour force consists of all people who are employed or unemployed. The labour force participation rate is the proportion of all people 15 years and over who are in the labour force. People employed part-time are those who worked between 1 and 34 hours in the week prior to Census night. Geographical classifications Remoteness Area (RA) is a structure of the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), covering the whole of Australia. It is intended to classify areas sharing common characteristics of remoteness into broad geographical regions (Remoteness Areas). The remoteness of a point is measured by its physical distance by road to the nearest urban centre. As remoteness is measured nationally, not all Remoteness Areas are represented in each state or territory. There are six RAs in the structure: Major Cities of Australia; Inner Regional Australia; Outer Regional Australia; Remote Australia; Very Remote Australia and Migratory Australia. The Remoteness Area names used in this article are abbreviated versions of these official terms, with 'Australia' omitted. For further information see Statistical Geography Volume 1 - Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), 2006 (cat. no. 1216.0). ENDNOTES 1The Treasury 2007, Intergenerational Report - 2007. 2Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005, Australian Labour Market Statistics, January 2005, cat. no. 6105.0, ABS, Canberra. 3Australian Taxation Office 2008, Mature age worker tax offset - overview. 4Abhayaratna, J and Lattimore, R 2006, Workforce participation rates - How does Australia compare?, Productivity Commission working paper. Articles in Australian Social Trends are designed to provide an overview of a current social issue. We aim to present an interesting and easy-to-read story, balanced with appropriate statistics. The articles are written as a starting point or summary of the issues, for a wide audience including policy makers, researchers, journalists and people who just want to have a better understanding of a topic. For people who require further information, we aim to provide references to other useful and more detailed sources.
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