Female Labour Market Factsheet – September 2011
Published November 2011
This factsheet reports key labour market information for females for the year to September 2011. All employment data is sourced from the Household Labour Force Survey released quarterly by Statistics New Zealand. Data is annualised to address sampling error and seasonal variation concerns.[1]Earnings data is from the Quarterly Employment Survey and has not been annualised.
In the year to September 2011, 1,776,000 females were aged 15 years and over, of whom 62.5% were in the labour force while 37.5% were not in the labour force[2], due to such reasons as child rearing, retirement or studying. Those employed and unemployed are discussed in further detail below.
Summary of the female labour market for the year to September 2011
Long description for Female Labour Market Summary
Labour force participation
The labour force participation rate for females stood at 62.5% for the year to September 2011, which represents a 0.3 percentage point increase over the past year and a 1.0 percentage point increase over the past five years. Compared with the participation rate for all people, which was 68.3% in the year to September 2011, the rate for females is considerably lower.
Labour force participation rates, 2006-2011
Unemployment
The unemployment rate for females was 6.9% in the year to September 2011, which was 0.1 percentage points above its level a year ago, and 2.7 percentage points higher than its level five years ago. Compared with the unemployment rate for all people, which was 6.6% in the year to September 2011, the rate for females was higher.
Unemployment rates, 2006-2011
Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET)
In the 15-19 years age group, 9.9% of males and 6.7% of females were NEET in the year to September 2011. In the 20-24 years age group, 11.9% of males and 10.3% of females were NEET. In both age groups, the male NEET rates were greater than the respective female rates.
NEET rates, 2007-2011
Wages
In September 2011, the average hourly earnings for females were $24.62. This figure has risen by $0.7 over the past year, and is 13% below the average hourly earnings for males ($28.25).
Average hourly earnings by gender, 2006-2011
Source: Quarterly Employment Survey, Statistics New Zealand
Employment
In the year to September 2011, 1,032,800 females were in employment. Over the last five years, the employment rate for females decreased 0.7 percentage points from 58.9% to 58.2%. The rate is below that for the total population, which stood at 63.8% in the year to September 2011.
Employment rates, 2006-2011
In the year to September 2011, the leading industries in which females worked were health care & social assistance (188,800 workers) and wholesale & retail (152,600 workers).
Female employment by industry
| Sep-11 | |
|---|---|
| Industry | (000) |
| Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Mining | 47.4 |
| Manufacturing | 71.1 |
| Utilities and Construction | 25.0 |
| Wholesale & Retail | 152.6 |
| Accommodation & Food Services | 71.9 |
| Transport, Warehousing & Communications | 44.2 |
| Financial and Insurance | 38.9 |
| Other Business Services | 126.7 |
| Public Admin and Safety | 60.0 |
| Education & Training | 143.8 |
| Health Care & Social Assistance | 188.8 |
| Other Services | 60.4 |
| Total Employed (including Not Specified) | 1032.8 |
In the year to September 2011, the most common occupational groups for females were professionals (274,100 workers) and clerical & administrative workers (209,700 workers).
Female employment by occupation
| Sep-11 | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | (000) |
| Managers | 122.4 |
| Professionals | 274.1 |
| Technicians & trades workers | 53.0 |
| Community & personal service workers | 139.8 |
| Clerical & administrative workers | 209.7 |
| Sales workers | 117.9 |
| Machinery operators & drivers | 18.0 |
| Labourers | 94.8 |
| Total Employed | 1032.8 |
Labour market terms explained
Employment: The number of people in work for one hour or more per week.
Employment rate: The proportion of the working–age population that is employed.
Labour force: The labour force consists of members of the working–age population who are classified as employed or unemployed (people in the labour force).
Labour force participation rate: The proportion of the working–age population who are either employed or unemployed.
Not in the labour force: Any person in the working–age population who is neither employed nor unemployed. This includes, for example, retired people, students and people at home with children.
NEET: This measure refers to youth not engaged in education, employment and training. Youth who are not engaged in these activities are at risk of poor labour market outcomes. In this report, caregiving is deemed to be engagement and so is excluded from the way NEET is measured.
Unemployment: The number of people in the working–age population who are without a paid job, are available for work and have actively sought work in the past four weeks or have a new job to start within the next four weeks.
Unemployment rate: The proportion of the labour force that is unemployed.
Working–age population: Usually resident population aged 15 years and over.
For more information contact labourmarketanalysis@dol.govt.nz
Next release: 9 February 2012
1 Data from the Household Labour Force Survey has been annualised by averaging the results from the past four quarters. This may occasionally result in a small rounding error compared to annual results produced directly by Statistics New Zealand.
2 See end of report for definitions of concepts and rates used in this report.