Wage deflation Australia

Census shows Australians working shorter weeks, but women still bear most household responsibilities

www.first2move.com.au  

Australians are working fewer hours per week than they were in 2011, according to new 2016 Census results released today.

Key points:

Average working week drops by 30 minutes

Employed women twice as likely to do 15+ hours of domestic work than men

More Australians than ever have post-school and postgraduate qualifications

Census data from 2016 showed the average paid working week for Australians was 34.6 hours — down from 35.1 hours in 2011.

More extreme working weeks were also down, with 25.7 per cent of Australians reportedly working more than 41 hours per week in 2016, compared to 28.8 per cent in 2011.

According to the data, women worked an average of 30 paid hours per week and men 39 hours.

And there were still noticeable gender differences in occupations — with men making up 84 per cent of technicians and trade workers, while 74 per cent of health professionals were women.

Truck drivers, electricians and carpenters were among popular occupations for men, while nurses, clerks and receptionists were among the most common jobs for women.

Census program manager Bindi Kindermann said female involvement in the workforce was increasing — up from just 34 per cent in 1966 for those over the age of 15, to 56 per cent in 2016.

For men that number is decreasing — 84 per cent of all men were employed in 1966, compared to 65 per cent in 2016.

The largest overall occupation category for Australians was professionals, which accounted for 21 per cent of the nation's workforce.

Ms Kindermann said some service industries were growing.

"Comparing stats from 2016 to that from 2011 … [shows] a 27 per cent increase in fitness instructors, a 25 per cent rise in the number or beauty therapists and a 23 per cent increase in bar attendants and baristas," Ms Kindermann said.

Professionals were also on the rise among Indigenous Australians, overtaking labourers as the main occupation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

(Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation )