Women and the young biggest winners from jobs boom

More than half of the more than 1 million jobs created since early 2020 have gone to women, with the biggest female employment gains in the care and social assistance sector.

More than half of the 540,000 increase in female employment since the immediately before the pandemic have been in the care economy. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Women and younger workers who have enjoyed the biggest boost to employment outcomes in the post-lockdown employment boom are also at greatest risk from a sharp economic slowdown over the coming months.

Ahead of the July labour force statistics on Thursday, new CBA research suggests the jobs market peaked in October last year, even as the official unemployment rate has remained stuck around 3.5 per cent since mid-2022.

With demand for workers staying sufficiently strong to match a historic surge in migration despite the impact of soaring rates and the cost of living crunch, economists are expecting July to have been another strong month for the labour market.

The consensus among analysts is that another 25,000 jobs were created in July – which, given the rapidly growing workforce, would be enough to hold the key jobless measure at 3.5 per cent.

The legacy of the massive fiscal and monetary stimulus enacted through the Covid-19 pandemic has been a jobs boom of unprecedented scale in modern times.

There are nearly two million more in work than at the depths of the pandemic in mid-2020.

ANZ head of Australian economics Adam Boyton said it was not clear if a cooling labour market would affect female and young workers more, although he said it would make it harder for those coming out of full-time education to find jobs.