About
Chart 1 - Workforce participation by age and sex
The bar chart shows women are more likely than men to be in the workforce between the ages of 15 to 19, but less likely at all other ages. The gap between women’s and men’s workforce participation is greatest during child bearing years, especially between the ages of 30 to 34. The gap closes slightly for people aged in their 40s and early 50s, but becomes larger again for people aged 55 to 64.
Chart 2 - Part-time work
The chart, based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data in October 2018, shows there are around 5.9 million women in employment, compared to around 6.7 million men. 46% of women in employment work part-time, compared to just 18 % of men. Women’s full-time and part–time employment have been growing more rapidly than men’s. The number of men in part-time work has grown slightly faster than the number of men in full time work.
Chart 3- Superannuation
The chart, based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data from 2015-16, shows women retire with 42 % less in their superannuation balances than men. One in three women have no money in superannuation.
Progress
Chart 4 - Progress towards G20 workforce participation target
The chart shows the workforce participation rate for 15 to 64 years olds in October 2018 (the latest data) was 82.7 % for men, and 73.2 % for women. It shows the percentage point gap between the women’s and men’s workforce participation rates has decreased from 12.1 percentage points in 2012 to 9.5 percentage points in 2018.
Chart 5 - The gender pay gap
The chart shows the gender pay gap has fallen from 18.7 % in May 2014 to 14.5 % in May 2018. The average weekly ordinary time earnings for men in May 2018 was $1677 compared to $1434 for women.
In Detail
Chart 6 - Economic impact of separation and divorce
The chart shows that separation and divorce has a negative impact on women’s earnings and wealth accumulation, but a positive effect for men. Men and women who remained married between 2010 and 2014 had an improvement in their average equivalised household disposable income of 15 % and 17 % respectively, and in their average equivalised household net worth of around 27 % each. Men who had been separated or divorced had a slightly bigger improvement in average equivalised household disposable income (21 %), and a much greater improvement in average equivalised household net worth (41 %), while women who had been separated or divorced had a decline in average equivalised household net worth of 0.3 %, with a bigger decline in average equivalised household disposal income of 6 %.
Chart 7 - Experience of at least one indicator of financial stress
The chart shows that female lone parents were significantly more likely to report at least one indicator of financial stress than male lone parents (43 % and 35 % respectively). Both were more likely to report financial stress than men and women in couples with no children (12 % and 14 % respectively), men and women in couples with children (21 % and 22 % respectively), and single lone people. 26 % of lone men were likely to report at least one indicator of financial stress compared to 21 % of lone women.
Chart 8 - Occupational Segregation
The chart shows that only 17 % of University and Vocational Education and Training graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are women. Occupational segregation persists, with female dominated professions experiencing lower average pay.
