The care economy is doing for young women what the mining boom did for men, when it comes to growing job prospects. Photo: File.
Young women are securing more jobs and earning more per hour on average than men, according to new research from economic think tank e61 Institute.
The institute’s analysis of employment data and job trends has found that women under 35 are more likely to find work than men, with an unemployment rate of 5.5 per cent compared with 6.5 per cent for their male counterparts.
It is the largest gap in two decades and reverses patterns from the mining boom, when young men had better employment outcomes.
This change has been largely driven by the expansion of the care sector, which, while improving overall job stability, is dominated by women.
Overall, the hourly gender pay gap has fallen from 11.5 per cent to 8 per cent over the past decade.
In its research paper titled How the Care Economy is Reshaping the Labour Market, e61 found rising wages in the care economy accounted directly for about 0.5 percentage points of this reduction.
The institute’s research economist Matthew Maltman said other factors included rising female educational attainment and an increased participation from prime-age female workers.
“The sharp expansion of the formal care sector and relatively high wage growth in the sector, driven in part by Fair Work Commission decisions, has significantly improved employment and pay for women, especially young women,” Mr Maltman said.
“Women are moving into care roles in far greater numbers than men from unemployment and also from lower-paid, high-turnover sectors such as retail and hospitality.”
Post-pandemic, the average hourly wage in care for 20–24-year-olds has been about $3.50 higher than the economy-wide average, and more than $5 higher than in the male-dominated construction sector.
“While care jobs are typically low-paying overall, they represent relatively high-paying roles for younger workers, thereby lifting the hourly pay of young women in particular,” Mr Maltman said.
“While men face no formal barriers to working in care, and many already do, deep-seated gender norms and social factors have been slow to shift.”
Despite recent wage gains, the research noted that care jobs still lag most other jobs on flexibility, pay, opportunities for progression, and overall job satisfaction.
The research comes as new jobs data shows Australia’s labour market remains steady in the face of increased global uncertainty.
Recently released labour force data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the unemployment rate stayed steady at 4.2 per cent in August.
Seasonally adjusted employment decreased marginally in August, by 5400, although it remains 1.5 per cent above the level recorded a year ago.
Participation decreased slightly from 67 per cent in July to 66.8 per cent in August, but remains historically high. Underemployment is at the lowest rate since August 2008.
Head of ABS labour statistics Sean Crick said employment fell by 5000 people and the number of unemployed fell by 1000 people in August.
“This meant that the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2 per cent whilst the participation rate fell by 0.1 percentage points to 66.8 per cent,” he said.
“Hours worked fell 0.4 per cent in August, supported by less people working full-time hours this month.”
The employment-to-population ratio fell by 0.1 percentage points to 64 per cent.
A fall in full-time employment (-41,000 people) drove the overall drop in employment numbers.
Meanwhile, part-time employment saw a 36,000-person rise.
Overall, though, females who were employed full time went down by 30,000 and males in full-time employment was down by 11,000.
There was a rise in part-time employment for both females and males, by 18,000 and 17,000, respectively.
Employment Minister Amanda Rishworth said the results continued to reflect the resilience of Australia’s economy.
“Jobs growth in Australia is still leading the pack of major advanced economies, increasing by 8.5 per cent since the Albanese Government came into power in May 2022,” Ms Rishworth said.
“And we’ve had the lowest average unemployment of any government in the last 50 years.”
