The following tables give a good overview of current gender inequality in the Australian labour market. These tables are embedded in the paper I gave at the ILO conference on the future of work last year. They show the high concentrations of women in just 6 of the 17 industry sectors, the high levels of the gender pay gap as well as the high levels of casualisation (informalisation) and underemployment for women. Why is that 21% of women work in health care and social assistance (mostly as nurses, aged care workers, social workers etc) compared to 5% of male workers and there is a 31% gender pay gap? Why is that there is an extraordinary 25% pay gap between men and women in professional, scientific and professional services? Go figure!
| Core industry sectors of female employment 6/17 | Female employment % | Male employment % | Gender pay gap* |
| Health Care and Social Assistance | 21% | 5% | 30.7% |
| Retail Trade | 12% | 9% | 10% |
| Education and Training | 11.6% | 4.4% | 12% |
| Accommodation and Food Services | 8.6% | 6% | 8% |
| Professional, Scientific and Technical Services | 8% | 9% | 25.3% |
| Public Administration and Safety | 6.5% | 6% | 7.3% |
| Total | 67.5% | 39.4% | 18.2% |
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2015) Underemployed, Industry and Occupation, Original – February 2015, 6291.0.55.003 Labour Force,
Workplace Gender Equality Agency – https://www.wgea.gov.au/media-releases/national-gender-pay-gap-rises-182
*Average full time weekly ordinary time earnings
| Core industry sectors of female employment | Informalisation – employees %without paid leave entitlem’ts | Female under- employment% | Male under-Employment% |
| Accommodation and Food Services | 65.4% | 23.6% | 19.5% |
| Retail Trade | 39.3% | 18.8% | 13.8% |
| HealthCare and Social Assistance | 19.9% | 10% | 8.6% |
| Education and Training | 17.7% | 10% | 8.7% |
| Professional, Scientific and Technical Services | 13.7% | 5.6% | 5.7% |
| Public Administration and Safety | 9.7% | 4.3% | 3.7% |
| Average | 24% | 11.3% (av) | 6.9% (av) |
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2015) Underemployed, Industry and Occupation, Original – 6291.0.55.003 Labour Force, Australia, February 2015
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2013) Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership, Australia, 6310.0 – August 2013
Dr. Veronica Sheen 