Young Kiwi women are more likely than ever to be working, learning, or training
This year's International Women’s Day called for a gender-balanced world, particularly in the workplace. To that end, Stats NZ have looked at what the facts and figures indicate about the present situation.
The research found women now make up almost half the paid workforce (48% of the total) compared with about 42% in 1986.
Indeed, about 1.26 million women are in paid work, compared with about 1.40 million men. However, many more women than men are in part-time jobs.
Moreover, almost 50,000 of the women who are employed part time (working less than 30 hours a week) want, and are available, to work more hours.
In the December 2018 quarter, the unemployment rate for women was 4.2%, while for men it rose to 4.4%. This was the first time since June 2010 that the rate was lower for women than men.
Deputy Government Statistician Denise McGregor said the unemployment rate for women is near the record lows of less than 4% we saw in 2007.
The difference in women and men’s median hourly earnings is also narrowing.
“Since 1998, the gender pay gap has been trending down. It’s fallen more than 40 percent since then,” said McGregor. “However, it was still 9.2% in the June 2018 quarter.”
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Young women are more likely than ever to be working, learning, or training. The proportion of women aged 15 to 24 years who are not in employment, education, or training (known as NEET) is now just over 10%, the lowest rate since records began in 2004.
“In the past, the NEET rate for young women has always been much higher than for young men, but that’s no longer the case,” said McGregor.
Family life for women has also changed in the last decade, with women marrying and having children a little later in life, or not at all.
The median age (half are older and half are younger) for a woman to marry was 30.5 years in 2017, compared with 30.3 years in 2007.
Moreover, women are also having children slightly later. The median age for a woman to give birth to her first child in 2018 was 29 years, compared with 27.7 years in 2008.