Women working full-time leading post-Covid jobs recovery

Full-time jobs for women are primarily responsible for the improving employment numbers, ABS data shows.

Some 107,000 more women are working full-time now than before Covid-19.

The nation’s rapid post-Covid jobs recovery is being driven by women taking up full-time jobs.

Some 107,000 more women are working full-time now than before Covid-19 began wreaking havoc on the economy and jobs in March last year, the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics employment data reveals.

Over the same timeframe there are 7100 fewer men in full-time employment, though there has been a 40,000 increase in men working part-time.

And there are almost 10,000 fewer women in part-time work, the ABS data shows.

The number of employed women increased by 69,000 in May alone, bringing female employment overall to 1.6 per cent higher than at the pandemic start.

University of Melbourne ­labour market economist Jeff Borland said the predominance of new jobs being for full-time working women showed long-term employment trends were returning to pre-Covid settings.

“Before Covid, social, technological and demographic changes taking place across Australia meant more women were taking full-time roles,” Professor Borland said. “The ageing of the population and a growing services sector were driving female participation in health, caring and services jobs.

“But then the pandemic hit, and for the first time in a recession both male and female jobs, not just males, were affected.

“Now with Covid receding, the negative effect on female-dominated industries such as hospit­ality, the arts and recreation are starting to unwind and old trends are reasserting themselves.”

Marian Baird, professor of work and organisational studies at the University of Sydney Business School, said it was unusual to see a big surge in full-time jobs for women. “Over the last 40 years, women’s full-time employment rates have really not shifted, so if Covid is breaking that trend, it ­really is significant because it hasn’t happened in other recessions,” she said.

Professor Baird said women’s employment was disproportionately disrupted early in the Covid pandemic, particularly in customer-facing and public service jobs, but women were now returning to work.

She said it was also possible more women stepped into full-time work during the pandemic because their partner had lost their job or seen hours reduced.

“It is also worth remembering that Covid has created a health and economic crisis, and it is likely healthcare jobs are driving the ­recovery. These types of jobs are female-dominated.”

Roger Wilkins, deputy director of the Household Income and ­Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, said Covid-19 might have led to workplace changes more suited to women working full-time. “One part of the story might be that more jobs are being done from home, and this is more compatible with women’s participation in full-time work as they can find the flexibility they need.”