Mothers’ Labour Force Participation

This report by the Ministry of Women's Affairs examines the changes in mothers’ labour force participation rates between 2001 and 2006.

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CONTENTS

Executive summary
Background
Analytical approach
Women’s labour force participation rate is lower than men’s
Overall participation rate of mothers
Older mothers have a higher labour force participation rate than younger mothers
Partnered mothers are more likely to be in the labour force than sole mothers
Labour force participation rate declines with a higher number of dependent children
Mothers with young children are less likely to be in the labour force than mothers with school-aged children
Mothers with older children have a higher labour force participation rate than mothers with younger children irrespective of the age of the mother
The labour force participation rate of mother’s with a post-school qualification is higher than mothers with no or a school qualification
Conclusion

FIGURES
Figure 1: Labour force participation of men and women by age, 2001 and 2006
Figure 2: Labour force participation of men and women aged 20-54, 2006
Figure 3: Labour force participation rate of men and women by age, 2006
Figure 4: Labour force participation of mothers aged 20-54 by family type, 2006
Figure 5: Labour force participation of mothers aged 20-54 by number of dependent children, 2006
Figure 6: Labour force participation of mothers aged 20-54 by age of youngest dependent child, 2006
Figure 7: Labour force participation rate of mothers by age and age of youngest dependent child, 2006

TABLES
Table 1: Percent of women with a dependent child by age of mother and age of youngest dependent child, 2006
Table 2: Labour force participation rates of mother’s aged 20-54 years by age of youngest child and highest qualification, 2006

Appendix
Table A1: Labour force participation of men and women by age, 2006
Table A2: Labour force participation of men and women aged 20-54, 2006
Table A3: Labour force participation rate of men and women by age, 2006
Table A4: Labour force participation of mothers aged 20-54 by parental status, 2006
Table A5: Labour force participation of mothers aged 20-54 by number of dependent children, 2006
Table A6: Labour force participation of mothers aged 20-54 by age of youngest dependent child, 2006
Table A7: Labour force participation rate of mothers by age and age of youngest dependent child, 2006
Table A8: Labour force participation rates of mothers aged 20-54 years by age of youngest child and highest qualification, 2006

Executive summary

Analysis of comparative data from both the 2001 and 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings showed that, while the labour force participation rate of women with dependent children increased more than men and women without dependent children, their participation rate remained lower. A buoyant economy and improved labour market conditions over this time increased the percentage working full-time and reduced the proportion that was unemployed.

Key findings of mothers’ labour force participation are outlined below.

• The labour force participation rate for women with dependent children increased by 2.0 percentage points from 68.8 percent (302,298) to 70.8 percent (333,120) between 2001 and 2006.
• Participation varied considerably by the age of the mother. Younger mothers were less likely to be in the labour force than older mothers, an outcome influenced by the age of the youngest child.
• Mothers with younger children had a lower participation rate than mothers with school aged children. The participation rate for women with a youngest child aged under one year was less than 40 percent, while for women with a youngest child aged ten years or older, the participation rate was over 80 percent.
• The labour force participation rate was higher for mothers with a post-school qualification. The participation rate for mothers with a post-school qualification was 76.4 percent in 2006, compared to 70.9 percent for mothers with a school qualification, and 58.9 percent for mothers with no qualifications.
• Partnered mothers (73.9 percent) had a higher participation rate than sole mothers (61.2 percent).

Background

In 2005, Grant Johnston¹ completed a comprehensive analysis of women’s labour force participation rates² using data from the 2001 Census of Population and Dwellings. He showed that, while full-time participation rates for women doubled between 1951 and 2001, women’s participation is still lower than men’s, with mothers’ participation lower still. In 2001, for example, 88.4 percent of men were in the labour force (either employed or unemployed) compared to 82.0 percent of women without a dependent child, and 68.8 percent of women with at least one dependent child. 

Further to his analysis, Johnston highlighted that, for women with at least one dependent child, their labour force participation rate:

• generally increased with age
• was higher for mothers with post-school qualifications
• was higher if they were a partnered mother as opposed to a sole mother
• increased as the age of the youngest child increased
• declined with a higher number of dependent children.

Using data from both the 2001 and 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings (Census), this paper builds on the analysis of Johnston (2005) by undertaking a quantitative examination of mothers’ labour force participation in 2006 and compares these patterns to those seen in 2001. This analysis is timely for three reasons.

Firstly, it provides further information about the characteristics of mothers and their families that can help explain their lower participation rate when compared with men and women without dependent children. This information is useful to government in formulating future policies in relation to both employment and the care of children. It may also highlight areas that need further attention by government.

Secondly, there have been significant changes within the New Zealand labour market over this time. Between 2001 and 2006 New Zealand experienced strong economic growth and a buoyant labour market. Male and female unemployment rates in 2001, for example, were 6.0 percent and 5.7 percent respectively but, by 2006, both rates had declined by 2.5 percentage points and 1.5 percentage points to reach 3.5 percent and 4.2 percent respectively. This indicates there were more employment opportunities for both men and women in 2006, and we would expect labour force participation rates to have increased over this time period.

Finally, there have been three policy interventions that may have contributed to improving women’s labour force participation. Paid Parental Leave (PPL) came into effect on 1 July 2002 and provided 12 weeks of paid leave for mothers if they had worked for the same employer for an average of at least ten hours a week for the year leading up to the baby’s expected due date. The scheme was extended to 13 weeks in December 2004, and 14 weeks in December 2005, while the eligibility rules were also expanded in December 2004. This allowed mothers to qualify for PPL if they had worked continuously with the same employer for an average of at least ten hours a week for the previous six months.  Although 12 months of unpaid leave was available prior to the introduction of PPL, the introduction of PPL and expanded eligibility rules could be expected to increase mothers’ attachment to the labour force.

Increases in the minimum wage between 2001 and 2006 may also have made employment a more attractive prospect.  When the Census was undertaken in March 2001 the adult minimum wage was $7.70 per hour, but by the time the 2006 Census was undertaken, the adult minimum wage had increased to $9.50 per hour. This increase may have enticed lower skilled women into the labour market because the reward for working was now higher in 2006.

Initial stages of Working for Families were introduced before the 2006 Census was undertaken.  In particular, Childcare Subsidy and Out-of-School and Recreation Subsidy rates were increased in October 2004 and October 2005, while the thresholds were increased in October 2004 as well.  As these subsidies provide financial assistance to low- to middle-income families, increases in the rates may enable those families to more easily cover the cost of childcare and move into the labour force.³

Analytical approach

With these developments in mind, data from 2001 and 2006 was used to examine labour force participation rates of:

• men, and women, with and without dependent children
• mothers by age
• sole and partnered mothers
• mothers by the number of dependent children they have
• mothers by the age of youngest child
• mothers by age, and by age of youngest child
• sole and partnered mothers by age of youngest child and highest qualification.

The analysis in the sections that follow was restricted to women with at least one dependent child (often referred to as ‘mothers’) who are aged 20 to 54 years. Where dependent children are referred to, this analysis follows the standard definition whereby a child is classified dependent if they are living with at least one parent, aged under 18, and not in full time employment. The 20 to 54 year age bracket is used as few mothers are aged outside of this age bracket. Of the 492,429 women who had at least one dependent child in 2006, only 4,071 (or 0.8 of one percent) were aged under 20, and 10,416 (or 2.1 percent) were aged 55 years or over. Removing these women from the analysis limits the amount of movement in the labour force participation rate caused by these small groups.

Women’s labour force participation rate is lower than men’s

One of the most interesting long-term employment trends in New Zealand has been the increase in women’s participation in paid employment, coupled with a relative stagnation in men’s participation. In 1989, 53.9 percent of women were in the labour force. This increased to 54.3 percent in 1994, 57.1 percent in 1999, 59.6 percent in 2004, and reached an all-time high of 62.5 percent in 2009. For men, however, the labour force participation rate in 1989 was 75.8 percent and declined to 73.3 percent in 1994, before making a slow recovery to reach 73.4 percent in 1999, 73.8 percent in 2004 and 75.2 percent in 2009.

Despite this convergence, Figure 1 below illustrates that women’s labour force participation rate was still lower than men’s at all age groups except for 15 to 19 years.  Men’s pattern of participation exhibits the classic ‘n’ shape with relatively low participation at younger age groups and older age groups. Their participation rate peaks at 90.5 percent for both the 30 to 34 and 35 to 39 age groups.  For women, participation by age is represented by an ‘m’ pattern with two localised peaks at 25 to 29 years (74.9 percent) and 45 to 49 years (82.9 percent) that are separated by a dip during the typical child-bearing and rearing years.

Figure 1: Labour force participation of men and women by age, 2001 and 2006.

Source: 2001Census of Population and Dwellings, 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings.

Table 1 below shows the percentage of women who had at least one dependent child by the age of the youngest child and the age of the mother.  It shows that for the age groups where women’s participation dips, a high proportion of these women have at least one dependent child.  For example, the fact that only 40.5 percent of women aged 30 to 34, and 27.3 percent of women aged 35 to 39, did not have a dependent child suggests that the presence of children, and especially young children, was a leading cause of reduced participation for these age groups.

Table 1: Percent of women with a dependent child by age of mother and age of youngest dependent child, 2006.

Source: 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings

The table also reveals that approximately half (47.7 percent) of women aged 20 to 54 years in 2006 had at least one dependent child.  Women aged 35 to 39 were least likely to have no dependent children (27.3 percent), while women aged 20 to 24 were most likely to have had no dependent children (83.5 percent). The table also shows a clear relationship between the age of the mother and the age of her youngest child.  That is, younger mothers are more likely to have a youngest child aged 0 to 4 years, while older mothers are more likely to have a youngest child aged 10 to 17 years.
Table A1 in the appendix shows that, between 2001 and 2006, men’s labour force participation experienced very little movement across all age groups.  Two exceptions were men aged 55 to 59 and 60 to 64 years, whose participation rates increased by 3.2 and 8.7 percentage points to reach 85.5 and 73.8 percent respectively in 2006.

For women, participation increased for each of the age groups with the exception of the 15 to 19 age group where participation declined by 0.4 of one percentage point. As with men, women aged 55 to 59 years and 60 to 64 years experienced the greatest increase of 7.4 and 11.7 percentage points respectively. Women aged 30 to 34 years also had a noticeable increase of 2.4 percentage points to reach 73.0 percent in 2006, which is likely to be due to continued increases in the age of first birth for mothers.

Overall participation rate of mothers

The presence of at least one dependent child remains a strong predictor of a woman’s participation in the labour force.  Figure 2 below shows that, in 2006, the labour force participation rate for mothers was 70.8 percent, compared with 83.7 percent for non-mothers, and 88.4 percent for men.

Figure 2: Labour force participation of men and women aged 20-54, 2006.

Source: 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings.

Women with dependent children were more likely than women without dependent children and men to work part-time.  More than 28 percent of mothers work less than 30 hours per week, whereas this is the case for 16.1 percent of non-mothers and just 6.4 percent of men.

While women with and without dependent children experienced an increase in their labour force participation rate between 2001 and 2006, men’s participation rate remained unchanged. The participation rate of women with dependent children increased by 2.0 percentage points over this time, whereas the corresponding increase for women without dependent children was 1.1 percentage points.

Full-time employment also increased for all three groups.  For women with dependent children in particular, the proportion working full-time increased sharply by 4.2 percentage points, from 34.4 percent (151,104) to 38.6 percent (181,566) between 2001 and 2006.  In comparison, the participation rate of women without dependent children and men increased by 2.1 and 1.7 percentage points respectively.  The growth in full-time employment, accompanied by a decline in the proportion who are unemployed, is to be expected given the strong growth in labour demand.

Older mothers have a higher labour force participation rate than younger mothers

As with the pattern shown in Figure 1, the participation rates of women with and without dependent children varied considerably with age (Figure 3).  For women with dependent children, labour force participation was lower for those women aged between 20 and 24 years (44.5 percent) and rises with each subsequent age group, before peaking for women aged 45 to 49 (81.3 percent).

Figure 3: Labour force participation rate of men and women by age, 2006.

Source: 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings.

It is interesting to note that labour force participation rates for men and women without dependent children were similar for the two youngest age groups, but the two rates diverged from the 30 to 34 age group and beyond. The dissimilarity at older ages is perhaps not surprising, as women without dependent children at these ages may have had dependent children in the past.  Past employment patterns for these women, including time out during child-rearing years, and possibly more traditional views surrounding the role of men and women, may explain some of the difference.

The 30 to 34 years age group is interesting because it is likely that few, if any, of these women have ever had a dependent child.  Differences in qualifications seem not to explain the difference as women aged 30 to 34 are, on average, more qualified than men aged 30 to 34.  For example, 32.3 percent of women and 25.6 percent of men aged 30 to 34 have a bachelors degree or higher, while 47.4 percent of women and 49.3 percent of men aged 30 to 34 have a post-school qualification.⁴ Therefore, there does not appear to be a clear explanation as to why the participation rate of women aged 30 to 34 years without dependent children was lower than that of men in the same age bracket.  One hypothesis may be that some partnered women were not in the labour force because there was no financial imperative to undertake paid work.

Labour force participation rates increased both for women with and without dependent children between 2001 and 2006.  The greatest increase for both groups was in the 50 to 54 age bracket. The labour force participation rate for women aged 50 to 54 with dependent children increased by 5.6 percentage points to reach 78.0 percent in 2006, while there was a 2.5 percentage points increase for women in the same age bracket without dependent children. Although large in percentage points terms, the increase in participation for women aged 50 to 54 with dependent children equates to an additional 7,137 women in the labour force in 2006.

Women with dependent children aged 25 to 29, 30 to 34 and 45 to 49 also experienced noticeable increases in their labour force participation rates of 1.2, 1.6, and 1.3 percentage points respectively.  However, although participation rates for women aged 25 to 29 and 30 to 34 with dependants increased, the actual number in the labour force declined by 2,454 and 1,185 respectively between 2001 and 2006, reflecting fewer women with dependants in each of the age groups between 2001 and 2006.  On the other hand, 15,837 more women aged 45 to 49 with dependent children were in the labour force in 2006 compared to 2001.

Partnered mothers are more likely to be in the labour force than sole mothers

While there were significant differences between mothers, non-mothers and men, there were also a number of differences within mothers as a group. Figure 4 below shows that labour force participation, full-time and part-time employment, and unemployment differs according to whether mothers have a partner or not. At 61.2 percent, the labour force participation rate for sole mothers was significantly lower than for partnered mothers (73.9 percent). 

A higher proportion of partnered mothers were employed full-time and part-time than sole mothers.  Almost one-third (31.8 percent) and just over one-fifth (21.0 percent) of sole mothers were employed full-time and part-time respectively.  In comparison, 40.8 percent of partnered mothers worked 30 hours or more per week, while 30.6 percent worked part-time.  The differences between sole and partnered mothers could be a result of many factors including: financial disincentives for sole parents to move from means-tested benefits to paid employment, an inability to share childcare responsibilities with a partner, and a preference to care for their own children.

Mothers’ labour force participation rates increased for both sole and partnered mothers between 2001 and 2006 (see Table A4).  Sole mothers’ labour force participation rate increased by 1.7 percentage points to reach 61.2 percent in 2006, while partnered mothers’ participation rate increased by 2.0 percentage points over the same time period to reach 73.9 percent. 

Figure 4: Labour force participation of mothers aged 20-54 by family type, 2006.

Source: 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings.

The increases have been driven primarily by increases in the proportion of sole and partnered mothers employed full-time.  Sole mothers in particular saw a large increase in the percentage employed full-time from 26.2 percent in 2001, to 31.8 percent in 2006. The number of sole mothers working full-time increased from 29,037 in 2001 to 35,832 in 2006. The number of partnered mothers working full-time increased by 23,661 between 2001 and 2006 to reach 145,737, or 40.8 percent of all partnered mothers. Rises in the percentage of sole and partnered mothers working full-time, along with a corresponding decline in the percentage of both groups unemployed, reflects the improving labour market conditions over this time.

Labour force participation rate declines with a higher number of dependent children

Figure 5 below shows that mothers with larger numbers of dependent children were less likely to be in the labour force.  While there was a minimal difference between the labour force participation rates of women with one dependent child (73.3 percent) and two dependent children (72.4 percent), there was a noticeable decline in the participation rate of mothers with three (68.8 percent), and four or more children (54.1 percent), as we would expect.

Full-time employment was highest for mothers with just one dependent child.  Of this group, 44.6 percent were employed full-time, compared with 37.5 percent of mothers with two children, 31.1 percent of mothers with three children, and 25.4 percent of mothers with four or more dependents. 

The negative relationship between the number of dependent children and labour force participation is not surprising.  Given that the two most common age groups of mothers with one dependent child are 40 to 44 years and 45 to 49 years, the vast majority of these children would be of school age.⁵ In comparison, a third of women with four or more dependent children were aged 35 to 39, which indicates there was likely to be at least one child aged under six.  As mothers with a high number of dependants were more likely to have children spanning a number of key school-age age groups than mothers with one or two children, the greater childcare responsibilities associated with young children are likely to reduce the availability for employment.

Figure 5: Labour force participation of mothers aged 20-54 by number of dependent children, 2006.

Source: 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings.

A rise in the proportion of mothers employed full-time appears to have driven an increase in the labour force participation rates in all but one of the number of dependent children sub categories between 2001 and 2006.  Mothers with two dependent children had the greatest increase in labour force participation, increasing from 70.3 percent in 2001 to 72.4 percent in 2006.  This included a 4.2 percentage point increase in the proportion employed full-time.
Mothers with one dependent child followed a similar pattern with increases in the proportion working full-time and the labour force participation rate.  The percentage of mothers with one dependent child who were in the labour force increased by 2.0 percentage points to reach 73.3 percent in 2006, while the proportion working full-time increased from 40.1 percent in 2001 to 44.6 percent in 2006.

Mothers with young children are less likely to be in the labour force than mothers with school-aged children

Figure 6 below shows mothers’ labour force participation was positively related to the age of the youngest child.  Mothers with a youngest child aged under one year old had a labour force participation rate of 39.5 percent in 2006, while participation peaked at 85.0 percent for mothers whose youngest child was aged 16.

Figure 6: Labour force participation of mothers aged 20-54 by age of youngest dependent child, 2006.

Source: 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings.

There was a large difference in participation rates for mothers with a youngest dependent aged under one year (39.5 percent) and for mothers with a youngest dependent aged one year old (56.6 percent). 

Although not nearly as large, there was a noticeable increase in participation when youngest dependants were aged four and five years old. The increase in labour force participation from 67.2 percent to 73.0 percent suggests mothers are more likely to seek employment once their youngest child is at school.

It is also interesting to note that the labour force participation rate for women with no dependent children was 83.1 percent, a rate that was lower than the rate for mothers with a youngest dependant aged 12 years and over (83.6 percent). It is not clear what the explanation for this is. Although the labour force participation rate of mothers with a dependant aged 12 years was higher, the percentage of women working full-time (52.0 percent) is lower than women without dependants (63.1 percent).

Labour force participation rates increased for mothers in all but three of the 18 categories for age of youngest child in 2001 and 2006 (see Table A6).  Excluding mothers with a youngest child aged under one year old, who had identical participation rates between 2001 and 2006, mothers with a youngest child of pre-school age experienced the largest growth in labour force participation. The participation rate for mothers with a child aged one year, for example, increased by 3.4 percentage points to reach 56.6 percent in 2006.  Similarly, there was a 3.3 percentage point increase for mothers whose youngest child was aged two years or three years, and a 3.2 percentage point increase for mothers whose youngest child was aged four years. The majority of all other age groups had minimal changes of less than 1.0 percentage point.

As with patterns outlined in previous sections, full-time employment increased between 2001 and 2006, with the proportion of mothers working full-time increasing by at least 2.0 percentage points for all age groups. The largest increase occurred for mothers with a youngest child aged 8 years, with their labour force participation rate rising from 38.4 percent in 2001 to 43.8 percent in 2006.

It is interesting to note that mothers with a youngest dependant aged between one year and four years experienced a strong growth in the percentage working full-time, and were also the only groups to experience an increase in the percentage working part-time.

Mothers with older children have a higher labour force participation rate than mothers with younger children irrespective of the age of the mother

Although Figure 3 showed that labour force participation rates for women with dependent children increased with age, Figure 7 below shows that even after accounting for the age of the youngest dependant, older mothers had a higher participation rate than younger mothers. The lowest participation rate for mothers who had a youngest child aged 0 to 4 is for those mothers aged 20 to 24 (42.6 percent). The labour force participation rate increased with each successive age group and reached its highest level for the 40 to 44 age group (61.5 percent), before declining in the last two age brackets.

Figure 7: Labour force participation rate of mothers by age and age of youngest dependent child, 2006.

Source: 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings.

Excluding the 50 to 54 age bracket, the pattern of labour force participation across the range of age brackets for women with a youngest dependant aged 5 to 9 paralleled the pattern for mothers with a youngest child aged 0 to 4 years but was around 20 percentage points higher. Participation rates peaked at 79.2 percent for the 40 to 44 age group before falling to 64.9 percent for the 50 to 54 age group.

The largest numerical increase in the number of women in the labour force occurred for women aged 40 to 45 whose youngest child was aged 10 to 17 years. Between 2001 and 2006, 11,211 more women in this category were in the labour force.

For mothers with a youngest child aged 0 to 4 years, the biggest numerical increases in the number in the labour force were for those mothers aged 35 to 39 and 40 to 44 years. The 2.5 and 2.1 percentage points increase in the labour force participation rate for the two respective age groups equated to an extra 4,743 and 3,126 women in the labour force in 2006.

Overall, the number and rate of women in the labour force in each of the three broad child age groups increased between 2001 and 2006. While the greatest numerical increase (19,236) was experienced by women who had dependants aged 10 to 17 years, this group had the lowest increase in participation rates (0.7 percentage points). Women with a youngest child aged 0 to 4 had the largest increase in their participation rate (2.4 percentage points), an increase of 7,089 women.

The labour force participation rate of mother’s with a post-school qualification is higher than mothers with no or a school qualification

Previous figures above have highlighted the age of the youngest child and whether the mother is partnered or not (family type) as influences on mothers’ labour force participation. However, Table 2 shows that highest qualifications were a third significant factor. In fact, when all three dimensions are examined at once, clear differences in labour force participation are evident. 

Table 2: Labour force participation rates of mother’s aged 20-54 years by age of youngest child and highest qualification, 2006.

Source: 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings.

Higher qualifications were associated with higher levels of labour force participation.  For each of the family type and youngest child categories, women with a post-school qualification had higher participation rates than women with a school qualification and women with no qualifications. The participation rate of sole mothers with a youngest child aged 0 to 4 who had no qualifications was the lowest of all groups at 31.0 percent. The participation rate increased to 45.7 percent if they had a school qualification, and to 54.3 percent if they had a post-school qualification.

At the other end of the scale, partnered mothers with a youngest child aged 10 to 17 years who had a post-school qualification had the highest participation rate (90.4 percent). If instead these women had a school qualification or no qualification then the labour force participation rate dropped to 86.0 percent and 79.2 percent respectively.

A second clear pattern was that for each qualification level and youngest child categories, partnered mothers had higher labour force participation rates than the corresponding sole mothers.  If we take mothers with no qualifications as an example, 31.0 percent of sole mothers with a youngest child aged 0 to 4 years were in the labour force, compared to 47.8 percent of partnered mothers with a youngest child aged 0 to 4 years. Similarly, the labour force participation rate for sole mothers with a youngest child aged 10 to 17 years was 63.2 percent, compared to 79.2 percent for the corresponding partnered mothers.

In some categories, the participation rate for mothers was greater than the rate for women without dependent children.  Across all qualification levels, partnered women with a youngest child aged 10 to 17 years had higher labour force participation rates than women with no dependent children.

Between 2001 and 2006, mothers who had a school qualification experienced a greater increase in the labour force participation rate than mothers with no qualifications or post school qualifications, as shown by Table A8.  With an increase of 2.4 percentage points, the growth in participation rates for mothers with a school qualification was much larger than for mothers with no qualification (0.2 of one percentage point) and mothers with a post-school qualification (-0.3 of one percentage point).

For sole mothers, there was growth in the participation rate for those with school qualifications, but decreases across all child age groups for those with no qualification and those with post-school qualifications. The participation rate of sole mothers with no qualification declined by 1.1 percentage points, the equivalent of 2,094 fewer women in the labour force.  There was a 5.0 percentage point decline in the participation rate for sole mothers with no qualifications whose youngest child was aged 5 to 9 years, which represented 1,287 fewer women in the labour force. Although the participation rates of sole mothers with a post-school qualification declined by 0.7 of one percentage point, the increase in the number of women gaining a tertiary education over this time meant there were 7,503 more women in the labour force.

For partnered mothers, those with no qualifications and school qualifications experienced an increase in their labour force participation rate of 1.2 percentage points and 2.5 percentage points respectively. However, because of the recent increase in the number of women gaining tertiary education, there were 4,032 and 177 fewer women in the labour force respectively. For those women with post school qualifications, there were 35,499 more women in the labour force between 2001 and 2006, equating to a slight decline of 0.2 of one percentage point in the participation rate.

It is also interesting to note that for partnered mothers with a youngest child aged 0 to 4 or 5 to 9 years, the participation rates increased across all three qualification levels. This could be due to a number of factors including improved access to childcare, more equal sharing of childcare responsibilities between partners, and access to paid parental leave.

Conclusion

Key findings from the analysis of data from the 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings showed that, for women with dependent children, the two main factors influencing labour force participation are the mother’s qualification and the age of the youngest child. In particular, mothers with a post-school qualification had a higher participation rate than mothers with school qualifications or no qualifications, while participation of mothers was higher as the age of the mother’s youngest children increased. Other results show that:

• older mothers have higher participation rates than younger mothers.
• the participation rate for partnered mothers was higher than that of sole mothers
• the participation of mothers was lower when there was a higher number of dependent children.

In relation to changes between 2001 and 2006, the majority of sub-groups of women with dependent children experienced an increase in their labour force participation rate. However, some groups did not. Participation rates for sole mothers with no qualifications or post-school qualifications declined over a time when there was strong labour demand. While accounting for just 3 and 4 percent of all females aged 20 to 54 years respectively, the decline suggests that childcare responsibilities and the associated cost of childcare may make employment a less feasible option. Further quantitative or qualitative research may be appropriate to determine whether these patterns are due to choices made by sole mothers in terms of employment, or whether there are other factors preventing them from entering the labour force.

 

Appendix

Table A1: Labour force participation of men and women by age, 2006.

Table A2: Labour force participation of men and women aged 20-54, 2006.

Table A3: Labour force participation rate of men and women by age, 2006.

Table A4: Labour force participation of mothers aged 20-54 by parental status, 2006.

Table A5: Labour force participation of mothers aged 20-54 by number of dependent children, 2006.

Table A6: Labour force participation of mothers aged 20-54 by age of youngest dependent child, 2006.

Table A7: Labour force participation rate of mothers by age and age of youngest dependent child, 2006.

Table A8: Labour force participation rates of mothers aged 20-54 years by age of youngest child and highest qualification, 2006.