I have just completed a thesis entitled Women and Work: An investigation of the utilisation of women in the Australian labour market in comparison with men and the impact, if any, of the presence of a partner and/or child.
Abstract: This thesis set out to examine the utilisation of women and women’s qualifications in the Australian labour market as compared with men. It questioned whether the policy proposal of the Commonwealth Government (2004; 2007) to increase the labour force participation rate of women, to offset the emerging gap between fiscal capacity and fiscal commitments resulting from population ageing, could be misguided and could perversely result in lower fertility rates, the very cause of population ageing.
This thesis finds that women are currently not utilised in the labour market to the same degree as men. However, the issue is not their participation rates per se (which have increased over the years) but rather their relatively low level of labour market attachment and utilisation of educational attainment through occupation. For this reason, policy intervention aimed at increasing female labour market utilisation may be a more effective strategy in increasing productivity than focussing on increasing female labour force participation rates as a solution to the potential fiscal impacts of population ageing.
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There would seem to be a difference between the effects of marginal labour market attachment and low skill utilisation. Any comment?
Hi Geoff, could you please expand on your comment? Cheers, Lisa
Hi Geoff, could you please expand on your comment? Cheers, Lisa
I was thinking about whether there are different populations and that a dual pronged strategy would still be appropriate. Is there a group that have low skill utilisation but are "reasonably well attached" to the labour market, distinct from a group that is marginally attached but of lower/medium skill levels that fall into the marginally attached group, through caring, home duties, isolation etc. Is this a group that could effectively "benefit" from work readiness assistance and cover some of the labour gaps in sectors such as services? I agree that there is also a critical issue around effective skill utilisation but wonder whether this is not a broader challenge ( as highlighted in some of the other blogs on the website)?
Hi Geoff, this particular research looked only at those people who are currently working - either more than 35 hours, less than 35 hours or considered themselves to be 'away from work'. The idea was to find out if people were maximising the use of their highest level of educational attainment.
The Department of Finance and Treasury released a paper some time ago "Who is not participating in the Labour Market?" which may be of interest to you and the very real issue of marginal attachment you mention.
Cheers, Lisa
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