Australia lagging behind on gender and age inclusive workforce

Diversity Council Australia and the Australian Human Rights Commission have released a new report revealing that Australia is substantially trailing behind other countries in the employment of older female workers and have called for action.

By Linda Belardi

Australia is substantially lagging behind other countries in the employment of older female workers, according to a new report released by Diversity Council Australia and the Australian Human Rights Commission.

According to the most recent data Australian women aged 55-64 had a workforce participation rate (54.9 per cent) that was up to 17 per cent less than comparable countries such as Sweden (72 per cent) and New Zealand (69.8 per cent).

Australia also trails countries such as the US and Canada by up to 5 per cent. Analysis shows that if Australia had the same participation rates as New Zealand of people aged over 55 GDP in 2012 would have been 4 per cent higher.

According to the ABS, older female workers in Australia have significantly lower participation rates than their male counterparts, as much as 17 points lower for women aged 55-64.

Overall 69 per cent of men (aged 45 and over) are in the labour force, compared to just 45 per cent of women.

Age Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Ryan said that Australia is ignoring a huge pool of talent and experience to the detriment of industry, the national economy and to older women.

“This is a terrible waste of human capital, undermines the national imperative of growing the economy and results in significant loss to businesses. It also impacts the financial, emotional and physical wellbeing of the many women who are consigned to unwanted early retirement,” Ms Ryan said in response to the report’s findings.

The report, Older Women Matter: Harnessing the talents of Australia’s older female workers, is a research initiative conducted in partnership with Diversity Council Australia and the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Ms Ryan said it was time for Australia to address this challenge and the report sets out a range of initiatives for businesses to implement in order to recruit, retain and develop the talent of older female workers.

Some of the barriers women face to employment include age and gender discrimination, health and disability, caring responsibilities, inflexible work, and limited access to training opportunities.

While the research says that underemployment of older workers has fallen in the last decade, it remains most persistent for women aged 45-54.

According to the report, 150,700 older women are underemployed in Australia and would prefer to work more hours – that is equivalent to16 per cent of those currently employed part time.

“It is clear that their talents have yet to be fully capitalised and there remains a number of high potential talent pools that organisations could better target,” the authors wrote.

Focusing on older women’s employment is about positioning businesses for future success, rather than providing ‘special treatment for a special group’, the report said.

In fact, the report argues that labour market participation and the maximisation of the skills and talents of older workers is not only a social and human rights issue, there is an economic imperative underpinning it.

At a national level, Productivity Commission modelling indicates that increasing older women’s labour participation rates to match men’s could increase per capita GDP growth to 2044-45 by 1.5 per cent.

Other research by the Grattan Institute argues that increasing labour market participation by older workers and in particular female workers represent two of the top three economic reform priorities for Australia.

Indeed, the latest national employment projections show that employment growth over the next five years will be dominated by industries in which older women are heavily represented – health care and social assistance; retail trade; accommodation and food services; and education and training alone account for more than half of the projected employment growth to 2017.

To maximize the employment of older women, the report also identifies ’10 pools of untapped talent’. These include:

1. Early retirees – the average age of retirement for women from the labour force is 49.6 compared to 57.9 for men, and close to 60 per cent of women will have retired by the time they are 55, 

2. Younger mature age women (45-54 years) – 45 per cent of women aged 45-54 indicated they were likely to make a genuine effort to find a new job in the next year. 

3. Community service, health, education, retail, professional workers – strong employment growth for these occupations and women are well represented in these industries.

4. Part-timers – There are nearly one million women aged 45 and over working part time in Australia, and 16 per cent would like to work more hours.

5. Casual workers – Women over 45 are more highly represented among casual workers than men (with the exception of the over 65s where men are slightly more casualised). 

6. Discouraged job seekers Women are more likely to be classified as discouraged job seekers than men and the percentage of female discouraged job seekers has remained consistently higher than the percentage of male discouraged job seekers since 2006. 

7. Re-entering job seekers – Long term unemployment is a significant issue for older women.

8. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander older women – Older Indigenous women are keen to access employment opportunities and have valuable (paid and non-paid work) experience and skills, though their absence from the workforce due to raising their families meant they felt discouraged 

9. Culturally Diverse Older Women – Older women born in non-English speaking countries have a participation rate around 10 per cent lower than their Australian born counterparts and women born in the other English speaking countries

10. Older women with a disability – Between 22 per cent and 41 per cent of Australian older female workers have a disability or long-term health condition.

Among its recommendations the report encourages employers to value the skills and experience of older women gained from outside the paid workforce, to look to existing older female talent as a first port of call when filling talent and to emphasise the productivity benefits of inclusion.

For a full list of recommended strategies read the report here

Fast facts:

  • The employment participation of older women has grown strongly over the past few decades and women over 45 now constitute 17 per cent of Australia’s workforce.
  • Studies show that workers over 65 have the highest productivity and motivation levels, suggesting that life stage and experience are key drivers of productivity.
  • Research shows that 45 per cent of workers aged 45 and over intend to remain the workforce until the age of 65-69, representing a potential 20-year investment in training, while those aged 30-39 are likely to remain with an employer for an average of only 5.8 years.

On June 25, the report’s authors will participate in a panel discussion with Anne Gale, SA Commissioner for Equal Opportunity and Anne Edwards, President of COTA and Co-Chair of the Premier’s Council for Women in an event in Adelaide.

 

Tags: employment, human-rights-commission, older-workers, susan-ryan,

1 thought on “Australia lagging behind on gender and age inclusive workforce

  1. Sadly, I don’t see Australia picking up its game and employing older women. It is both a human rights and discrimination issue. I feel it is the Government’s role to employ older women. If they take the lead, maybe others will follow. Many older women have exceptional qualifications, but because of their age are blocked from the work force and hence live in poverty. I believe once Europe picks up a little again many mature age Australian women and their families will take their skills there.

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