3. Employment patterns and job characteristics
- 3.1 Labour force status
- 3.2 Leave from work
- 3.3 Maternity/parental leave
- 3.4 Factors associated with employment
- 3.5 Hours worked
- 3.6 Preferred hours worked
- 3.7 Within-couple employment patterns
- 3.8 Job characteristics of employed parents
- 3.9 Summary
This section describes the employment patterns and job characteristics of LSAC parents. As outlined in Section 1, there is relatively little Australian research on labour market outcomes for parents with an infant. There is also relatively little research that provides a detailed description of the characteristics of jobs in which parents of young children are employed. This section aims to start to fill this gap.
The section is structured as follows. Section 3.1 provides an overview of how labour force status varies according to the age of the youngest child, mothers and fathers, and between single and couple mothers. This is followed by an analysis of mothers who were on maternity leave at the time of the interview and those that had returned to work following childbirth. Section 3.3 describes how labour force status varies with educational attainment, the number of children and parental health status. In Section 3.4, employed parents' hours of work are described, followed by a section examining whether these hours are actually preferred by parents. One of the strengths of the LSAC design is the collection of data from both parents in couple households. This is exploited in Section 3.6, where the employment patterns found in couple-parent families are detailed. Section 3.7 describes the characteristics of the jobs in which parents with young children are employed. Section 3.8 summarises the findings in this section.
3.1 Labour force status
In this section, a three-category measure of labour force status is used: employed, unemployed and not in the labour force.18 The 'not in the labour force' category includes those on maternity/parental-related leave. The labour force status of couple and single mothers is also analysed. The differences between single-parent and couple-parent fathers are not considered because there are too few single-parent fathers (see Section 2.2) to provide reliable estimates for this group separately. How labour force status varies with the age of the youngest child is also examined.19
The majority of fathers were employed (92 per cent) and there was no difference according to the age of the youngest child (see Table 3.1). The proportion of fathers who were unemployed was low, ranging from 2.2 per cent for those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years to 3.2 per cent for those with an infant. The proportion of fathers not in the labour force ranges from 4.6 per cent for those with an infant to 5.4 per cent for those with a 4–5 year old. Very few fathers were on parental-related leave from work (0.3 per cent for those with an infant).
Labour force participation of mothers was very different to that of fathers. For mothers with an infant, 38.1 per cent were employed, 3.4 per cent were unemployed and 58.6 per cent were not in the labour force. The employment rate of mothers increased as the age of the youngest child increased. Correspondingly, the proportion not in the labour force decreased. For mothers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years, 60.3 per cent were employed, 4.6 per cent were unemployed and 35.1 per cent were not in the labour force.
According to LSAC, 9.7 per cent of mothers with an infant were on maternity leave at the time of the Wave 1 interview. This comprised 8.4 per cent on unpaid maternity/parental leave, 1.0 per cent on paid maternity/parental leave and 0.3 per cent on leave without pay. The patterns of use of maternity leave are examined in detail in Section 3.2.
| Labour force status | Mothers |
Fathers Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Couple | Single | Total | ||
Infant | ||||
| Employed | 40.5 | 17.5 | 38.1 | 92.3 |
| Unemployed | 2.9 | 7.6 | 3.4 | 3.2 |
| Not in the labour force | 56.6 | 75.0 | 58.6 | 4.6 |
| On maternity/parental related leave | 10.3 | 4.5 | 9.7 | 0.3 |
| (n=4,620) | (n=473) | (n=5,093) | (n=4,622) | |
4–5 year old with younger sibling | ||||
| Employed | 48.4 | 27.1 | 46.2 | 92.4 |
| Unemployed | 2.9 | 10.2 | 3.6 | 2.3 |
| Not in the labour force | 48.8 | 62.8 | 50.1 | 5.4 |
| (n=2,118) | (n=210) | (n=2,328) | (n=2,118) | |
4–5 year old with no younger sibling | ||||
| Employed | 63.5 | 45.8 | 60.3 | 92.3 |
| Unemployed | 3.5 | 9.8 | 4.6 | 2.2 |
| Not in the labour force | 33.1 | 44.4 | 35.1 | 5.4 |
| (n=2,161) | (n=446) | (n=2,607) | (n=2,192) | |
There were large differences in the labour force status of single and couple mothers. For single mothers with an infant, the employment rate was just 17.5 per cent, much lower than the employment rate of 40.5 per cent among couple mothers. Single mothers were also more likely to be unemployed (7.6 per cent) than couple mothers (2.9 per cent). Three-quarters of single mothers with an infant were not in the labour force compared to 56.6 per cent of couple mothers.
The employment rate of both single and couple mothers was higher for those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years than those with an infant. For single mothers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years, the employment rate was 45.8 per cent. This compares to an employment rate of 63.5 per cent among couple mothers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years. The absolute and proportionate gap in employment rates between single and couple mothers narrowed as the age of the youngest child increased from being an infant to 4–5 years, although it still remained substantial. The difference in labour force status of single and couple mothers is consistent with the findings of other research (Gray et al. 2003; Whiteford 2001).
Those with a 4–5 year old and a younger sibling had employment rates that were between those of the mothers with an infant and mothers with a 4–5 year old and no younger sibling (see Table 3.1). Within this group, the employment rates differed considerably according to the age of the youngest sibling (Table B2). The percentage of mothers employed increased from 27.0 per cent for those whose youngest child was less than 1 year, to 44.7 per cent for those with a 1 year old, 52.8 per cent for those with a 2 year old and 56.1 per cent for those with a 3 or 4 year old.
In much of the following analysis of parental employment patterns, parents from the 4–5 year-old cohort but with younger children are excluded. This enables comparisons to focus on those families with a youngest infant child and a youngest 4–5 year-old child.
There is little large-scale nationally representative data that includes information on both the age of infants in months and mothers' labour force status. Therefore, little is known about how the employment rate of mothers varies in the first year of a child's life. LSAC provides this information.20 Table 3.2 shows the employment rates of mothers and fathers with infants by the age of the infant in months. For mothers, employment rates increased with the age of the infant from 24.7 per cent when the child was 3 to 5 months to 49.6 per cent when the child was more than 1 year old. Employment increased with the age of the infant for couple and single mothers, but the rates of employment were higher for couple mothers at all ages. For fathers, no relationships with age of the infant were apparent.
| Age of child | Mothers |
Fathers Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Couple | Single | Total | ||
| 3–5 months | 26.4 | 10.4 | 24.7 | 92.4 |
| 6–8 months | 35.4 | 12.8 | 33.2 | 92.0 |
| 9–11 months | 44.1 | 17.9 | 41.2 | 92.2 |
| 12 months or more | 52.2 | 29.0 | 49.6 | 92.7 |
| Total | 40.5 | 17.5 | 38.1 | 92.3 |
| (n=4,620) | (n=473) | (n=5,093) | (n=4,622) | |
An interesting question is the impact that having children has on employment rates. However, given that LSAC is restricted to families with children, these data cannot be used to compare families with children to those without. There is extensive literature that has explored the effects of children on employment (for example, de Vaus 2004). This literature consistently finds that men with children have higher employment rates than childless men. The reverse pattern is found for women; mothers with dependent children had much lower employment rates than childless women.21
3.2 Leave from work
LSAC provides information on the types of leave used by parents who had a job but were on leave at the time of the interview. Among mothers of infants who were absent from work, 69.7 per cent were on unpaid maternity leave (see Table 3.3). This was the most commonly reported reason for absence by mothers of infants aged less than 1 year, but for mothers of infants aged 1 year or more, the reasons for absence were more diverse. Some mothers of the infant cohort were on paid maternity leave, especially among those with younger children.
| Reason for absence | Age of study child | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3–5 months |
6–8 months |
9–11 months |
1 year or more |
Total | |
| Paid maternity/parental leave | 15.7 | 6.2 | 8.5 | 1.6 | 8.3 |
| Unpaid maternity/parental leave | 72.8 | 75.7 | 69.5 | 35.7 | 69.7 |
| Annual/recreation leave | 2.7 | 6.2 | 7.4 | 20.2 | 7.1 |
| Own illness/sick leave | 0.0 | 0.5 | 3.3 | 9.9 | 2.1 |
| Leave without pay | 1.3 | 2.2 | 3.9 | 6.4 | 2.9 |
| Standard work arrangement | 2.3 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 1.7 |
| No work available | 3.3 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 14.2 | 3.7 |
| Other (including workers' compensation) | 2.0 | 4.9 | 3.4 | 12.1 | 4.6 |
| (n=127) | (n=280) | (n=182) | (n=56) | (n=645) | |
The leave patterns for the mothers of the 4–5 year-old cohort were quite varied, although in families where there was also a sibling under 1 year of age, mothers were often on unpaid maternity leave (62.7 per cent of those on leave) or paid maternity leave (18.1 per cent of those on leave). In other families without a sibling under 1 year of age, annual/recreation leave, own illness/sick leave, leave without pay and 'other' were the most common reasons for absence (see Table 3.4).
| Reason for absence | Has younger sibling |
No younger sibling |
Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sibling under 1 year |
Sibling 1 year and over | |||
| Paid maternity/parental leave | 18.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 4.4 |
| Unpaid maternity/parental leave | 62.7 | 10.0 | 7.3 | 21.6 |
| Annual/recreation leave | 11.9 | 25.3 | 35.2 | 26.3 |
| Own illness/sick leave | 3.2 | 18.3 | 13.2 | 12.5 |
| Leave without pay | 0.9 | 14.5 | 16.7 | 12.2 |
| Standard work arrangement | 0.0 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 4.7 |
| No work available | 0.0 | 9.6 | 8.3 | 6.7 |
| Other (including workers' compensation) | 3.1 | 16.1 | 13.1 | 11.7 |
| (n=56) | (n=70) | (n=89) | (n=215) | |
Fathers' reasons for absence from work are shown in Table 3.5. Very few reported being on paid or unpaid parental leave. Around half of the fathers who were absent from work, from both cohorts, were on annual/recreation leave (49.2 per cent in the infant cohort and 53.7 per cent in the 4–5 year-old cohort). The next largest reported reasons were own illness/sick leave (15.7 per cent in the infant cohort and 14.0 per cent in the 4–5 year-old cohort) and standard work arrangement (12.1 per cent in the infant cohort and 14.3 per cent in the 4–5 year-old cohort).
| Reason for absence | Infant | 4–5 year old |
|---|---|---|
| Paid parental leave | 1.2 | 0.4 |
| Unpaid parental leave | 2.8 | 0.0 |
| Workers' compensation | 4.7 | 6.9 |
| Annual/recreation leave | 49.2 | 53.7 |
| Own illness/sick leave | 15.7 | 14.0 |
| Leave without pay | 4.4 | 3.4 |
| Stood down, bad weather, plant breakdown | 0.7 | 2.1 |
| Standard work arrangement | 12.1 | 14.3 |
| Other | 9.2 | 5.1 |
| (n=180) | (n=157) |
3.3 Maternity/parental leave
Most women make significant changes to their involvement in the labour market when they have children. This section describes the use of maternity/parental leave and rates of return to paid employment of mothers following childbirth. There is limited Australian data about the use of maternity, parental or other types of leave after a child is born, and for mothers, about the rates of return to work following childbirth, although recent data provide some information on this topic (ABS 2006b; Australian Institute of Family Studies 2006). Other Australian analyses of mothers' employment transitions (Baxter 2005a) are useful in relation to the question of return-to-work timing, but do not provide information on the ways in which leave are used following the birth of a child. Research by Glezer (1988) was particularly valuable in understanding the use of leave and returning to work, but is now quite dated.22
The measure of maternity/parental leave used in this report includes those on paid or unpaid maternity/parental leave as well as those on leave without pay. This will tend to result in an underestimate of maternity-related breaks from a job because it excludes those on paid recreational or long service leave, which are sometimes taken in conjunction with maternity leave. Conversely, some of those on leave without pay may have been using this leave for reasons other than a maternity break, tending to result in an overstating of the rates of maternity leave.
While only 24.7 per cent of mothers with an infant aged 3 to 5 months were employed, 19.5 per cent had a job from which they were on maternity/parental leave (see Table 3.6). The proportion on paid or unpaid maternity leave decreases with the age of the child. Among mothers with a child aged 6 to 8 months, 12.4 per cent were on maternity/parental leave and among those with a 1 year old, just 2.9 per cent were on maternity/parental leave.
| Age of study child | Employed | On maternity/ parental leave |
Not employed and not on maternity/ parental leave |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3–5 months | 24.7 | 19.5 | 55.8 |
| 6–8 months | 33.2 | 12.4 | 54.4 |
| 9–11 months | 41.2 | 7.5 | 51.3 |
| 12 months or more | 49.6 | 2.9 | 47.5 |
| Total | 38.1 | 9.7 | 52.2 |
| (n=2,014) | (n=527) | (n=2,552) |
The return to work of mothers following childbirth is further investigated by comparing employment rates and rates of maternity leave use for mothers who were employed while pregnant and mothers who were not employed while pregnant (see Table 3.7). Overall, 61.5 per cent of mothers of the infant cohort were employed during pregnancy.23
Mothers who were employed during their pregnancy had a much higher rate of return to work during the first year of their child's life than mothers who were not employed during pregnancy (see Table 3.7). At the time of the Wave 1 interview, 53.3 per cent of women who had been employed during pregnancy had returned to employment. This compared to just 13.8 per cent for those who were not employed during pregnancy.
Of mothers who had been employed during pregnancy, 15.3 per cent had not yet returned to work and were on maternity/parental leave. Unsurprisingly, very few of those who were not employed during pregnancy indicated they were on maternity/parental leave (0.8 per cent). They were much more likely to be without a job, although almost a quarter (22.8 per cent) had taken up employment once their child had reached its first birthday.
| Age of study child | Employed | On maternity/ parental leave |
Not employed and not on maternity/ parental leave |
Number of observations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Employed during pregnancy | ||||
| 3–5 months | 35.2 | 30.0 | 34.8 | 368 |
| 6–8 months | 46.5 | 20.1 | 33.4 | 1,151 |
| 9–11 months | 58.7 | 11.5 | 29.8 | 1,212 |
| 12 months or more | 67.0 | 4.1 | 28.9 | 496 |
| Total | 53.3 | 15.3 | 31.5 | 3,227 |
Not employed during pregnancy | ||||
| 3–5 months | 7.0 | 1.7 | 91.3 | 201 |
| 6–8 months | 12.0 | 0.3 | 87.7 | 654 |
| 9–11 months | 13.1 | 1.0 | 85.9 | 683 |
| 12 months or more | 22.8 | 1.0 | 76.2 | 300 |
| Total | 13.8 | 0.8 | 85.4 | 1,838 |
The classification of those on maternity/parental leave as being not employed is an important point that should be kept in mind when interpreting the analyses throughout this report. The importance of classifying maternity/parental leave as not employed is illustrated by comparing the percentage of single mothers and couple mothers (from the infant cohort) on maternity/parental leave. Table 3.1 showed that single mothers were more likely than couple mothers to be not working, whereas couple mothers were more likely to be on maternity-related leave (10.3 and 4.5 per cent respectively).
The reasons for the higher use of maternity-related leave by couple mothers are complex. In part, the difference is due to the fact that couple mothers were more likely to have been working in pregnancy (and therefore potentially entitled to maternity leave): 64 per cent of couple mothers (in the infant cohort) were in paid employment in pregnancy, compared to 40 per cent of single mothers. It is also related to the different types of jobs couple and single mothers worked in. Couple mothers' higher education levels are reflected in them being more likely to be in higher-status occupations than single mothers (see Section 3.7).24 These higher status occupations were more likely to provide some level of paid maternity leave, thus helping to offset the economic cost of being out of employment (Goward 2002).
The information on employment and use of maternity/parental leave presented above shows the relationship between age of youngest child and employment at a single point in time. While this provides some insights into the extent to which mothers enter paid employment following childbirth, and the timing of this, other questions in LSAC allow a more sophisticated analysis of this issue to be conducted (see, for example, Table B3). An analysis of these data is outside the scope of this report.
3.4 Factors associated with employment
Research on the determinants of employment (for example, Gray et al. 2003; Baxter 2005c; Birch 2005; Breusch & Gray 2004) has shown there to be a number of factors associated with participation in the labour force. These include educational attainment, number and age of children, and health status. Table 3.8 shows how employment rates vary by these characteristics. The analysis is presented separately by the age of the youngest child and for couple and single mothers.
There is a strong relationship between the number of children and the employment rates of mothers with an infant. For mothers with an infant and no other children the employment rate was 42.5 per cent. The employment rate fell to 38.4 per cent for those with an infant and one other child and 30.6 per cent if there were two or more other children. For fathers of infants, the employment rate was the same if they had one or two children (93.5 and 93.6 per cent respectively), but was a little lower if they had an infant and two or more other children (88.4 per cent).
There was a strong relationship between educational attainment and the probability of employment for mothers and fathers. For mothers with an infant, the employment rate of those with a highest level of educational attainment of incomplete secondary schooling was 20.3 per cent. This increased to 49.1 per cent for those with a bachelor degree or higher. A similar pattern was apparent for mothers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years. The effects of educational attainment on the probability of employment were greater for single mothers than couple mothers. For example, the difference in employment rates between the highest education level and lowest education level was 37.0 percentage points for single mothers of infants (43.3 per cent compared to 6.3 per cent) and for couple mothers it was 25.3 percentage points (49.3 per cent compared to 24.0 per cent). The differential effect of education on single and couple mothers is consistent with the findings of Gray et al. (2003). For fathers, the employment rate also increased with educational attainment. For fathers with an infant, the employment rate of those with incomplete secondary education was 85.8 per cent and for those with a bachelor degree or higher the employment rate was 96.2 per cent.
Mothers |
Fathers Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Couple | Single | Total | ||
| Number of children | Infant | |||
| 1 | 45.2 | 22.1 | 42.5 | 93.5 |
| 2 | 40.4 | 16.1 | 38.4 | 93.6 |
| 3 or more | 33.1 | 11.6 | 30.6 | 88.4 |
| Highest education level | ||||
| Incomplete secondary | 24.0 | 6.3 | 20.3 | 85.8 |
| Complete secondary only | 35.0 | 15.6 | 33.3 | 91.9 |
| Certificate/diploma | 43.3 | 24.9 | 41.2 | 92.2 |
| Bachelor degree or higher | 49.3 | 43.3 | 49.1 | 96.2 |
| Has long-term medical condition | ||||
| Yes | 37.3 | 15.0 | 33.8 | 85.7 |
| No | 41.4 | 18.9 | 39.5 | 93.9 |
| Total | 40.5 | 17.5 | 38.1 | 92.3 |
4–5 year old | ||||
| Number of children | ||||
| 1 | 69.8 | 46.8 | 62.2 | 88.8 |
| 2 | 67.8 | 53.6 | 65.6 | 94.2 |
| 3 or more | 55.1 | 31.7 | 52.2 | 91.6 |
| Highest education level | ||||
| Incomplete secondary | 48.9 | 32.0 | 45.0 | 88.1 |
| Complete secondary only | 60.2 | 44.3 | 57.5 | 96.2 |
| Certificate/diploma | 66.9 | 52.4 | 64.0 | 91.3 |
| Bachelor degree or higher | 75.1 | 62.0 | 73.6 | 95.6 |
| Has long-term medical condition | ||||
| Yes | 60.4 | 31.5 | 53.5 | 85.2 |
| No | 64.6 | 54.5 | 63.0 | 94.5 |
| Total | 63.5 | 45.8 | 60.3 | 92.3 |
While the patterns were similar for those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years and for those with an infant, some differences are worth noting. First, the effects of the number of children differed between those with a youngest child who is an infant and those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years. For couple mothers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years, there was little difference in the employment rate between those with one child and two children. For single mothers, the employment rate was actually higher in two-child families than one-child families. Overall, the employment rate for mothers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years was higher in two-child families (65.6 per cent) than for those with one child (62.2 per cent). This was also the case for fathers. Second, the effect of education differed for fathers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years compared to fathers with an infant. In the older cohort, the highest employment rate was among fathers with a secondary school education only (96.2 per cent), although this was not significantly higher than the employment rate of fathers with a bachelor degree or higher (95.6 per cent).
As expected, parents with a long-term medical condition had lower employment rates than those who did not. For mothers with an infant, the effect on the employment rate of couple and single mothers was similar (those with a long-term medical condition having employment rates around 4 percentage points lower than those without). The impact on mothers overall though was larger (around 6 percentage points). This was because more single mothers than couple mothers had such a condition.
For single mothers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years, the effect was substantially larger, with 31.5 per cent of those with a long-term medical condition employed compared to 54.5 per cent of those without. The effect on couple mothers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years was similar to those with an infant, which suggests that such a condition is a substantially greater barrier to employment for single mothers than couple mothers.
The effect of a long-term medical condition on the employment rate of fathers was similar, irrespective of the age of the youngest child, with a difference in the employment rate of 8–9 percentage points.
3.5 Hours worked
This section provides information on the hours usually worked by employed parents. Overall, the average usual working hours of mothers with an infant was 20.4 hours per week. The average hours worked by fathers was much higher at 46.1 hours per week (see Table 3.9). Over half the fathers worked 45 hours or longer per week (53.3 per cent) including 21.9 per cent who worked 55 hours or longer. The average usual working hours for fathers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years was 47.0 hours per week. The proportion of fathers who worked part-time hours (less than 35 hours) was small, at just 7.6 per cent for those with an infant and 6.8 per cent of those whose youngest child was 4–5 years.
For mothers, the average usual hours worked increased from 20.4 hours per week for those with an infant as their youngest child to 25.8 hours per week for those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years. There was little difference in the average working hours of single and couple mothers, although the relatively small number of employed single mothers with an infant means that caution needs to be exercised in interpreting the results for this group. Part-time hours were clearly the predominant form of employment for mothers of infants, with 43.0 per cent of mothers working for less than 16 hours per week and 20.6 per cent working 35 or more hours per week. Only 5.6 per cent of mothers with an infant worked 45 or more hours per week. For mothers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years, the majority also worked part-time. The major difference compared to mothers with an infant is that the proportion working 1 to 15 hours per week was 28.0 per cent (compared to 43.0 per cent of mothers with an infant working these hours). A higher proportion of those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years were working 35 or more hours per week (31.3 per cent).
| Usual hours | Mothers |
Fathers Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Couple | Single | Total | ||
Infant | ||||
| 1–15 | 42.8 | 48.6 | 43.0 | 2.1 |
| 16–24 | 24.7 | 24.7 | 24.7 | 1.6 |
| 25–34 | 11.8 | 10.4 | 11.7 | 3.9 |
| 35–44 | 15.2 | 10.7 | 15.0 | 39.1 |
| 45–54 | 4.2 | 4.9 | 4.2 | 31.4 |
| 55 or more | 1.4 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 21.9 |
| Mean hours per week | 20.5 | 18.4 | 20.4 | 46.1 |
| (n=1,915) | (n=90) | (n=2,005) | (n=4,238) | |
4–5 year old | ||||
| 1–15 | 27.6 | 30.0 | 28.0 | 1.6 |
| 16–24 | 24.0 | 24.9 | 24.2 | 2.1 |
| 25–34 | 16.4 | 17.4 | 16.5 | 3.2 |
| 35–44 | 21.1 | 20.5 | 21.0 | 38.8 |
| 45–54 | 7.4 | 5.4 | 7.1 | 29.5 |
| 55 or more | 3.4 | 1.7 | 3.2 | 24.9 |
| Mean hours per week | 26.0 | 24.3 | 25.8 | 47.0 |
| (n=1,406) | (n=213) | (n=1,619) | (n=2,024) | |
To give some idea of the effect of children on the likelihood of being employed part-time compared to full-time, ABS estimates for women aged 20 to 44 years without children aged less than 15 years provide a useful benchmark. Among employed women without a child aged less than 15 years, 77.2 per cent were employed full-time and 22.8 per cent were employed part-time.25
For women, a much higher proportion of those with a young child are employed part-time than for women without a child less than 15 years of age. Clearly, working part-time is a strategy used by women to enable them to combine work and family responsibilities.
3.6 Preferred hours worked
In addition to examining actual hours worked, it is of interest to examine preferred working hours. A significant proportion of the employed would prefer to work less or more hours than they currently work, and mothers, in particular, often express a strong preference for part-time hours (Gray et al. 2004; Qu & Weston 2005).
LSAC provides information on whether employed respondents would prefer to work a different number of hours than they currently do. Employed parents were asked, 'if you could choose the number of hours you work each week (and taking into account how that would affect your income), would you prefer to work:
(i) fewer hours than you do now?;
(ii) about the same hours as you do now?; or
(iii) more hours than you do now?'
About two-thirds of mothers (irrespective of the age of the youngest child) preferred to work the same hours they currently worked (see Table 3.10). Mothers working part-time hours were more likely than those working full-time to be satisfied with the hours they worked. Mothers working 16 to 24 hours per week were the least likely to want to change their working hours. However, a significant number of those working less than 16 hours per week preferred to work more hours (21.7 per cent with youngest child an infant and 28.3 per cent of those with youngest child aged 4–5 years). More than half of the full-time employed mothers preferred to work fewer hours (62.7 per cent of those with infant and 54.4 per cent of those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years).
| Usual hours | Prefer fewer | Prefer same | Prefer more | Number of observations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Infant | ||||
| 1–15 | 12.3 | 66.0 | 21.7 | 708 |
| 16–24 | 15.6 | 76.7 | 7.7 | 425 |
| 25–34 | 26.6 | 63.4 | 10.1 | 188 |
| 35 or more | 62.7 | 34.1 | 3.2 | 308 |
| Total | 24.6 | 62.3 | 13.1 | 1,629 |
4–5 year old | ||||
| 1–15 | 6.1 | 65.5 | 28.3 | 352 |
| 16–24 | 11.9 | 77.9 | 10.2 | 354 |
| 25–34 | 27.1 | 65.0 | 7.9 | 218 |
| 35 or more | 54.4 | 44.3 | 1.3 | 370 |
| Total | 25.1 | 62.7 | 12.3 | 1,294 |
The small number of employed single mothers in the infant cohort meant that in order to compare the extent to which single and couple mothers would prefer to work different hours to those they currently work, it was necessary to combine the infant and 4–5 year-old cohorts and combine some of the hours categories. Couple mothers working less than 16 hours per week were substantially more likely to prefer to work the same hours than single mothers working these hours (see Table 3.11). Single mothers usually working these short part-time hours were more likely to prefer more hours than couple mothers (40.3 per cent and 22.5 per cent respectively). Similarly, single mothers working 16 to 34 hours were more likely to prefer more hours than couple mothers working these hours. In fact, couple mothers working 16 to 34 hours per week were more likely to prefer to work fewer hours than prefer to work more hours. Couple mothers working full-time were more likely to prefer to work fewer hours than single mothers working full-time, although for both groups the proportion preferring less hours was substantial.
| Usual hours | Prefer fewer | Prefer same | Prefer more | Number of observations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Couple | ||||
| 1–15 | 9.7 | 67.8 | 22.5 | 1,339 |
| 16–34 | 18.7 | 73.4 | 7.9 | 1,437 |
| 35 or more | 58.5 | 39.2 | 2.4 | 779 |
| Total | 24.3 | 63.6 | 12.1 | 3,555 |
Single | ||||
| 1–15 | 10.4 | 49.3 | 40.3 | 96 |
| 16–34 | 13.0 | 68.8 | 18.2 | 120 |
| 35 or more | 47.5 | 50.7 | 1.8 | 72 |
| Total | 20.5 | 57.8 | 21.8 | 288 |
Among employed fathers, just over half preferred to work their current hours (see Table 3.12). Fathers who worked 35 to 44 hours were most likely to prefer the hours they worked compared to those working 45 hours or more per week. The proportion of fathers who preferred to work fewer hours increased as hours worked increased. A very high proportion of fathers working 55 hours or more per week preferred to work fewer hours (61.4 per cent). Among fathers usually working part-time hours, more than one-quarter preferred to work longer hours.
| Usual hours | Prefer fewer | Prefer same | Prefer more | Number of observations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–34 | 14.5 | 59.0 | 26.5 | 386 |
| 35–44 | 29.1 | 64.1 | 6.8 | 2,349 |
| 45–54 | 41.5 | 54.3 | 4.2 | 1,916 |
| 55 or more | 61.4 | 35.9 | 2.7 | 1,446 |
| Total | 39.6 | 54.1 | 6.3 | 6,097 |
3.7 Within-couple employment patterns
One of the strengths of LSAC is that it provides information on the employment status of both parents in the household. This section focuses on describing the patterns of working hours for mothers and fathers in couple-parent families.
Table 3.13 shows the within-couple distribution of mothers' working hours and fathers' working hours. An example may assist with the interpretation of this table. Looking at the first row total, 59.5 per cent of couple mothers with an infant were not employed, which (looking at each cell in this row) comprised 5.9 per cent of families in which the father was not employed, 4.2 per cent of families in which the father worked 1 to 34 hours, 22.3 per cent where the father worked 35 to 44 hours, 16.3 per cent where the father worked 45 to 54 hours and 10.8 per cent where the father worked 55 hours or more.
The column totals in Table 3.13 show the percentage of fathers working in each hours category. For example, for those with infants, 7.8 per cent of all fathers were not employed, 7.0 per cent worked 1 to 34 hours per week, 36.2 per cent worked 35 to 44 hours, 28.9 per cent worked 45 to 54 hours and 20.2 per cent worked 55 hours per week or more.
The patterns of parental employment within families are varied and change substantially as the age of the youngest child increases. For couple-parent families with an infant, in 49.4 per cent of families the father worked full-time and the mother was not in paid employment. The second most common arrangement was for the father to work full-time and the mother part-time (29.0 per cent). In relatively few families with an infant were both parents working full-time (7.0 per cent).
In couple-parent families with a youngest child aged 4–5 years, a much higher proportion of both parents were employed than in families with a younger child. In 39.7 per cent of families the father worked full-time and the mother part-time and in 17.8 per cent both parents worked full-time. The more traditional model in which the father works full-time and the mother is not in paid employment was still quite common, applying to 29.4 per cent of families with a 4–5 year old.
| Mother's work hours | Father's work hours | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not employed | 1–34 | 35–44 | 45–54 | 55 or more | Total | |
Infant | ||||||
| Not employed | 5.9 | 4.2 | 22.3 | 16.3 | 10.8 | 59.5 |
| 1–15 | 0.4 | 1.3 | 4.9 | 6.0 | 4.8 | 17.3 |
| 16–24 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 4.0 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 10.0 |
| 25–34 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 4.8 |
| 35–44 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 6.2 |
| 45 or more | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 2.3 |
| Total | 7.8 | 7.0 | 36.2 | 28.9 | 20.2 | 100.0 |
4–5 year old | ||||||
| Not employed | 4.5 | 2.6 | 11.9 | 10.0 | 7.5 | 36.5 |
| 1–15 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 5.6 | 4.4 | 6.1 | 17.5 |
| 16–24 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 6.2 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 15.3 |
| 25–34 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 4.2 | 3.2 | 1.9 | 10.4 |
| 35–44 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 6.3 | 3.5 | 2.1 | 13.5 |
| 45 or more | 0.4 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 6.9 |
| Total | 6.9 | 6.3 | 36.2 | 27.5 | 23.0 | 100.0 |
The proportion of young children in couple-parent families whose parents were both jobless26 was relatively low (5.9 per cent of those with an infant and 4.5 per cent of those whose youngest child is aged 4–5 years). By way of contrast, when single-mother families were included, 13.6 per cent of children (13.9 per cent of infants, 12.6 per cent of 4–5 year olds with a younger sibling and 14.1 per cent of 4–5 year olds with no younger siblings) were in families in which there was no employed parent.
The relationship between mothers' and fathers' working hours is difficult to discern from Table 3.13 and so Table 3.14 shows how mothers' average hours were related to fathers' hours and how fathers' average hours were related to mothers' hours. This enables an examination of whether mothers work shorter hours when fathers work longer hours, and whether fathers work shorter hours when mothers work longer hours. The top panel of Table 3.14 shows that employed mothers of infants worked similar hours, on average, irrespective of the hours worked by their partners. Where the father was not working, however, mothers of infants worked substantially longer (29.6 hours per week, on average). Employed mothers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years worked the longest hours when the fathers were not employed (28.6 hours per week) or worked part-time hours (30.3 hours per week). As fathers' hours of work increased, mothers worked less hours, particularly where fathers worked very long hours (55 hours or more per week).
There was less variation in mean hours of fathers according to the mothers' hours at work, but fathers worked marginally longer hours, on average, in families where the mother worked less than 16 hours per week (bottom panel).
| Infant | 4–5 year old | |
|---|---|---|
| Fathers' work hours | Mean hours of employed mothers | |
| Not employed | 29.6 | 28.6 |
| 1–34 | 20.5 | 30.3 |
| 35–44 | 21.7 | 26.6 |
| 45–54 | 19.7 | 26.0 |
| 55 or more | 18.3 | 23.6 |
| Total | 20.5 | 26.0 |
| Mothers' work hours | Mean hours of employed fathers | |
| Not employed | 45.4 | 46.5 |
| 1–15 | 48.5 | 49.5 |
| 16–24 | 46.9 | 47.3 |
| 25–34 | 44.8 | 46.3 |
| 35 or more | 46.1 | 45.8 |
| Total | 46.1 | 47.0 |
As discussed earlier, educational attainment is an important determinant of labour market outcomes. Table 3.15 shows the relationship between the highest level of educational attainment within the couple and the likelihood of the parents being jobless. The most striking point is that for couples in which education levels were lowest (both parents with incomplete secondary education), the likelihood of both parents not working was much higher than for couples in which either parent had a higher level of educational attainment. Among the infant cohort, 18.7 per cent of the couples in which both parents had incomplete secondary education were jobless. This compared to the overall jobless proportion of 5.9 per cent for this cohort. A similar pattern is apparent for those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years, with a jobless rate of 9.5 per cent for the low-education couples compared to 4.5 per cent for all couples.
| Highest education of either parent | Per cent jobless |
Number of observations | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infant | 4–5 year old | Infant | 4–5 year old | |
| Incomplete secondary | 18.7 | 9.5 | 199 | 122 |
| Complete secondary only | 10.3 | 5.9 | 297 | 137 |
| Certificate/diploma | 7.0 | 5.2 | 2,041 | 1,006 |
| Bachelor degree or higher | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2,040 | 882 |
| Total | 5.9 | 4.5 | 4,577 | 2,147 |
3.8 Job characteristics of employed parents
The remainder of this section provides detailed information on the job characteristics of employed parents. Characteristics examined include occupation, type of employment (self-employed, permanent/ongoing or casual employee) and access to a range of family-friendly work arrangements. LSAC does not provide measures of earnings from paid employment and so this job characteristic cannot be examined.
Occupation
Occupation is of interest because it is correlated with earnings (although there are large differences in earnings within occupations) and is also a measure of social status. Overall, fathers were more likely than mothers to be employed in managerial occupations, as tradespersons and related workers, and intermediate production and transport workers (see Table 3.16). Fathers were also slightly more likely than mothers to be employed as associate professionals, or labourers and related workers. Mothers were more likely than fathers to be employed as professionals, advanced clerical and service workers, intermediate clerical sales and service workers, or elementary clerical sales and service workers. Occupational differences by sex exist not only for parents of young children, but across the broader population of employed men and women (Office of the Status of Women 2004).
There is evidence that women employed in managerial and administrative or professional jobs were likely to return to work more quickly following childbirth than women in clerical and service occupations. This can be seen from the fact that the proportion of women employed in managerial and administrative or professional jobs was lower for the women with older children than the women with younger children (see Table 3.16). There are likely to be many reasons for the faster return to work of mothers in the higher status occupations, but a more detailed analysis of these data would be required to determine to what extent different factors are important. Possibilities include the desire by these women to minimise loss of income and the availability of part-time work or other family-friendly employment conditions that make a faster return to work possible. For fathers, the occupational distribution did not vary systematically by the age of the youngest child.
| Occupation | Mothers |
Fathers | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infant | 4–5 year old | Infant | 4–5 year old | |
| Managers and administrators | 5.7 | 4.5 | 12.1 | 12.2 |
| Professionals | 29.8 | 25.2 | 19.9 | 19.7 |
| Associate professionals | 10.8 | 12.0 | 15.8 | 15.4 |
| Tradespersons and related workers | 4.8 | 4.2 | 22.6 | 22.0 |
| Advanced clerical and service workers | 11.2 | 8.4 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Intermediate clerical sales and service workers | 21.9 | 26.9 | 6.0 | 7.2 |
| Intermediate production and transport workers | 1.5 | 2.3 | 11.9 | 13.1 |
| Elementary clerical sales and service workers | 10.3 | 10.3 | 3.7 | 3.2 |
| Labourers and related workers | 4.0 | 6.3 | 7.4 | 6.5 |
| (n=2,014) | (n=1,625) | (n=4,295) | (n=2,036) | |
| Occupation | Couple mother | Single mother |
|---|---|---|
| Managers and administrators | 5.5 | 3.3 |
| Professionals | 28.8 | 16.2 |
| Associate professionals | 11.4 | 9.6 |
| Tradespersons and related workers | 4.3 | 6.3 |
| Advanced clerical and service workers | 10.7 | 3.8 |
| Intermediate clerical sales and service workers | 23.4 | 34.2 |
| Intermediate production and transport workers | 1.7 | 2.3 |
| Elementary clerical sales and service workers | 9.5 | 17.4 |
| Labourers and related workers | 4.7 | 7.0 |
| (n=4,392) | (n=365) |
Table 3.17 shows occupational status for mothers by family type.27 Single mothers were less likely than couple mothers to be employed in professional, associate professional and advanced clerical jobs and more likely to be employed as an intermediate clerical sales and service worker, elementary clerical sales and service worker or labourers and related workers.
Type of employment
The distribution by type of employment was quite different for mothers and fathers, although for both, being a permanent or ongoing employee was the most common work arrangement. Mothers were much more likely to be casually employed than fathers. Further, single mothers were more likely to have casual jobs than couple mothers (see Table 3.18).
| Employment type | Mothers |
Fathers Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Couple | Single | Total | ||
Infant | ||||
| Self-employed | 28.3 | 9.0 | 27.4 | 22.7 |
| Permanent/ongoing employee | 47.3 | 47.8 | 47.4 | 67.1 |
| Fixed-term contract employee | 2.8 | 5.6 | 2.9 | 3.4 |
| Casual employee | 19.5 | 30.1 | 20.0 | 5.8 |
| Employee, some other basis | 2.1 | 7.6 | 2.3 | 1.0 |
| (n=1,920) | (n=91) | (n=2,011) | (n=4,286) | |
4–5 year old | ||||
| Self-employed | 24.5 | 9.8 | 22.5 | 28.0 |
| Permanent/ongoing employee | 49.6 | 47.8 | 49.4 | 64.2 |
| Fixed-term contract employee | 5.6 | 4.5 | 5.4 | 2.9 |
| Casual employee | 18.6 | 33.5 | 20.7 | 4.2 |
| Employee, some other basis | 1.7 | 4.5 | 2.1 | 0.7 |
| (n=1,409) | (n=214) | (n=1,623) | (n=2,031) | |
Australian and international research has shown that, for women, having young children is associated with a greater likelihood of being self-employed compared to being an employee (Boden Jr 1999; Baxter 2005c; Chapman, Gregory & Klugman 1998; Preston 2001; Bell & la Valle 2003; Lombard 2001). International research has shown while the self-employed give a wide range of reasons for self-employment, self-employed mothers often give reasons related to job flexibility, minimising non-parental care and balancing paid employment with family responsibilities (Boden Jr 1999; Bell & la Valle 2003). Hughes and Gray (2005), using Australian data, found that a significant proportion of self-employed parents, particularly mothers, took up self-employment to better manage their caring responsibilities.
Self-employment is quite common among parents with young children (see Table 3.18). Around one-quarter of employed mothers and fathers were self-employed. The rate of self-employment was slightly higher among mothers with an infant (27.4 per cent) than among those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years (22.5 per cent). For fathers the pattern is the reversed, with a higher rate of self-employment among those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years (28.0 per cent) than those with an infant (22.7 per cent).
There are differences between single and couple mothers in the rates of self-employment, with a much lower proportion of single mothers being self-employed. The higher rate of self-employment among couple mothers is probably explained in part by employment in family businesses with two-thirds of the partners of self-employed couple mothers being also self-employed.
Access to family-friendly work arrangements
Access to family-friendly work arrangements has been shown to assist families to negotiate family and work responsibilities (see Gray & Tudball 2003 for a discussion of this literature). LSAC contains information on a range of family-friendly work arrangements including access to paid maternity/parental leave, paid personal/family leave and flexible start and finish times.
The extent to which non-standard hours assist families in balancing work and family responsibilities will depend upon the particular circumstances of the employee. Working in the evening or on weekends may make a parent less available to provide or assist with child care and do household tasks (especially around the peak periods of children's needs in the early evening) and in this sense is often thought to make it more difficult to balance work and family responsibilities. However, there is evidence that some parents are able to dovetail working hours to reduce or remove the need for non-parental care (see Section 4), although recent research by Alexander and Baxter (2005) also using LSAC data suggests that non-standard work arrangements increase the level of work–family strain experienced.
Employed fathers were more likely to have had access to paid leave than employed mothers (see Table 3.19). This is true both for parents with an infant and parents with a youngest child aged 4–5 years. For example, 48.0 per cent of employed fathers with an infant had access to paid parental leave and 63.6 per cent had access to paid personal/family leave. This compares to 37.2 per cent of employed mothers with an infant having access to paid maternity/parental leave and 47.4 per cent having access to paid personal/family leave.
The main difference between employed fathers with an infant and those with a 4–5 year-old child in access to paid leave is that those with older children are more likely to have access to paid parental leave and paid personal/family leave. For example, 54.2 per cent of fathers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years had access to paid parental leave and 68.2 per cent had access to paid personal/family leave. Employed mothers with an infant are also more likely to have access to paid leave than those with an infant, but the difference is much smaller than for fathers.
| Work arrangements | Mother |
Father | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infant | 4–5 year old | Infant | 4–5 year old | |
Per cent of employees with access | ||||
| Paid leave(a) | ||||
| Paid maternity/parental leave | 37.2 | 39.7 | 48.0 | 54.2 |
| Paid personal/family leave | 47.4 | 50.3 | 63.6 | 68.2 |
| (n=1,414) | (n=1,201) | (n=2,882) | (n=1,231) | |
Per cent of employed with arrangements | ||||
| Non-standard hours | ||||
| Sometimes works after 6 p.m. or overnight(b) | 51.7 | 48.7 | 68.6 | 69.4 |
| Works permanent night shift | 2.6 | 4.1 | 4.9 | 3.7 |
| Sometimes works weekends(c) | 54.8 | 52.2 | 73.6 | 72.8 |
| (n=2,014) | (n=1,625) | (n=4,295) | (n=2,036) | |
| Start/finish times flexibility(d) | ||||
| Can change start/finish times, works flexible hours |
56.3 | 53.7 | 47.1 | 48.2 |
| Can change start/finish times with approval in special circumstances |
27.0 | 28.9 | 34.4 | 31.6 |
| Unlikely or not able to change start/finish times | 16.7 | 17.5 | 18.5 | 20.2 |
| (n=1,611) | (n=1,288) | (n=3,164) | (n=1,454) | |
Around half of employed mothers and more than two-thirds of employed fathers sometimes work beyond 6 p.m. or overnight28 at least sometimes each week (see Table 3.19). Similarly, just over half of employed mothers and nearly three-quarters of employed fathers sometimes worked on weekends.29
Over half of employed mothers were able to change their start and finish times, having flexible work hours (56.3 per cent of those with an infant and 53.7 per cent of those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years). This was higher than the proportion of fathers with flexible start and finish times (47.1 and 48.2 per cent of those with infants and those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years, respectively).
Only a minority (although still a significant proportion) of employed parents said that it was unlikely or they definitely could not change their start or finish times (ranging from 16.7 per cent of mothers with an infant to 20.2 per cent of fathers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years).
Table 3.20 shows how access to family-friendly work arrangements differs by family type. Again, the relatively small number of employed single mothers in the LSAC sample means that the age of youngest child is not taken into account when comparing single and couple mothers. Couple mothers were substantially more likely to have access to paid maternity and personal/family leave than single mothers. For example, 41.0 per cent of couple mothers had access to paid maternity leave and 51.8 per cent had access to paid personal/family leave. This compared to 25.9 per cent of single mothers with access to paid maternity leave and 35.4 per cent with access to paid personal/family leave.
| Work arrangements | Couple mother | Single mother |
|---|---|---|
Per cent of employees with access | ||
| Paid leave(a) | ||
| Paid maternity/parental leave | 41.0 | 25.9 |
| Paid personal/family leave | 51.8 | 35.4 |
| (n=3,086) | (n=312) | |
Per cent of employed with arrangements | ||
| Non-standard hours | ||
| Sometimes works after 6 p.m. or overnight(b) | 51.6 | 43.9 |
| Works permanent night shift | 3.0 | 5.5 |
| Sometimes works weekends(c) | 53.9 | 52.2 |
| (n=4,401) | (n=366) | |
| Start/finish times flexibility(d) | ||
| Can change start/finish times, works flexible hours | 56.9 | 47.1 |
| Can change start/finish times with approval in special circumstances |
26.1 | 35.6 |
| Unlikely or not able to change start/finish times | 17.1 | 17.2 |
| (n=3,015) | (n=224) | |
Couple mothers were more likely than single mothers to at least sometimes work evenings/nights (51.6 per cent compared to 43.9 per cent). Couple and single mothers had a similar likelihood of sometimes working weekends. Couple mothers were more likely to be able to change their start and finish times without seeking approval (56.9 per cent) than single mothers (47.1 per cent).
Differences were apparent in access to family-friendly work arrangements according to the type of job, in particular between the self-employed workers and employees (see Table 3.21). Of all employed mothers and all employed fathers, the self-employed were much more likely to have flexible start and finish times than permanent/ongoing or casual employees. They were also more likely to sometimes work evenings/nights or weekends. Self-employed mothers worked shorter hours, on average (19.2 hours per week), than permanent/ongoing employee mothers (27.1 hours per week), although casual employees worked the shortest average hours (15.1 hours per week). For fathers, self-employment was associated with longer work hours, compared to permanent/ongoing employment, and casual employment was associated with the shortest work hours.
For mothers, the differences between permanent/ongoing and casual employees were not great, although casual employees were more likely to say they worked flexible hours (and could therefore vary their start and finish times), and the permanent/ongoing employees to say they could vary their hours with approval in special circumstances. Permanent/ongoing employed mothers were a little more likely to report sometimes working evenings/nights, while casually employed mothers were more likely to report sometimes working on the weekends.
For fathers, casual employees were more likely to say they could not vary their start and finish times than permanent/ongoing employees. The proportions of permanent/ongoing and casual fathers working flexible hours were similar. Casually employed fathers were less likely to be sometimes working evenings/nights or weekends than permanent/ongoing employed fathers.
| Work arrangements | Self- employed |
Permanent/ ongoing employee |
Casual employee |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mothers | ||||
| Can change start/finish times, works flexible hours |
87.8 | 43.6 | 51.6 | 56.1 |
| Can change start/finish times with approval in special circumstances |
4.6 | 37.1 | 26.0 | 26.8 |
| Unlikely or not able to change start/finish times | 7.6 | 19.4 | 22.4 | 17.1 |
| Sometimes works evenings/nights | 61.4 | 48.6 | 44.8 | 51.1 |
| Sometimes works weekends | 64.3 | 48.4 | 54.8 | 53.8 |
| Mean hours worked | 19.2 | 27.1 | 15.1 | 22.6 |
Fathers | ||||
| Can change start/finish times, works flexible hours |
74.9 | 39.8 | 37.2 | 48.1 |
| Can change start/finish times with approval in special circumstances |
11.8 | 40.2 | 31.7 | 33.0 |
| Unlikely or not able to change start/finish times | 13.3 | 20.1 | 31.1 | 18.9 |
| Sometimes works evenings/nights | 75.5 | 67.5 | 54.1 | 68.8 |
| Sometimes works weekends | 85.3 | 69.8 | 62.9 | 73.2 |
| Mean hours worked | 50.9 | 46.0 | 34.1 | 46.6 |
3.9 Summary
Consistent with the findings from other data sources, analysis of LSAC reveals that having young children has a much greater affect on the employment patterns of mothers than fathers. Mothers with young children are less likely to be employed, work shorter hours and are employed in quite different types of jobs compared to fathers. There are substantial differences between single and couple mothers and according to the age of the youngest child.
Key findings of this section are outlined below.
- For mothers with infants, 38.1 per cent were employed. For those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years, 60.3 per cent were employed. This compares to an employment rate of 92 per cent for fathers.
- LSAC provides new data on how the employment rate of mothers varies with the age of children under 1 year. The employment rate of mothers with a 3 to 5 month-old baby was 24.7 per cent, increasing to 33.2 per cent for those with a 6 to 8 month-old baby, 41.2 per cent for those with a 9 to 11 month-old baby and 49.6 per cent for those with a child aged 12 to 19 months.
- Mothers' employment rates were higher among those with higher levels of education. For fathers of infants the proportion employed also increased with higher levels of education. For fathers with a youngest child aged 4–5 years, those with complete secondary education only and those with bachelor degree or higher had the highest rates of employment.
- Single mothers had a much lower employment rate than couple mothers (17.5 per cent compared to 40.5 per cent for mothers with an infant youngest child, and 45.8 per cent compared to 63.5 per cent for mothers with a 4–5 year-old youngest child). Factors that might be considered to be a barrier to employment (for example, low levels of education and having multiple young children) had a greater impact upon the likelihood of being employed for single mothers than couple mothers.
- Employment rates for both single and couple mothers increased with the age of the youngest child, whereas the employment rates of fathers were unaffected by the age of the youngest child.
- LSAC provides information on the employment status of mothers while pregnant with the study child. Mothers who were in employment while pregnant had a much higher rate of return to work than those who were not employed while pregnant.
- The average working hours of employed mothers with a young child were 20 to 25 hours per week, much lower than the average of 46 hours for fathers. A substantial number of the fathers worked 55 or more hours per week: 21.9 per cent of those with an infant and 24.9 per cent of those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years.
- Nearly two-thirds of employed mothers did not want to change the number of hours they were working. However, among full-time employed mothers, more than half preferred to work fewer hours, while those working less than 16 hours were the most likely to prefer more hours (21.7 per cent of those with an infant and 28.3 per cent of those with a youngest child aged 4–5 years).
- There was little difference between mothers and fathers in access to family-friendly work arrangements, although there were differences between mothers and fathers in the types of work arrangements available. Fathers were more likely to have access to paid leave than mothers but mothers were more likely to have access to flexible hours.
- Couple mothers were more likely than single mothers to have access to paid maternity/parental leave (41.0 and 25.9 per cent respectively) and more likely to have access to paid personal/family leave (51.8 and 35.4 per cent respectively). Couple mothers were also more likely to report being able to change start and finish times without seeking approval (56.9 per cent) than single mothers (47.1 per cent).
The analysis in this section reveals that a significant number of working parents do not have access to family-friendly work arrangements such as paid personal/family leave and flexibility around start and finish times, or have work arrangements that are usually considered less family-friendly, such as regularly working into the evenings or on weekends. Fathers working very long hours were the most likely to prefer a reduction in hours even after taking account the effect on their income. Similarly, over half of the mothers working full-time preferred to work fewer hours.
Everything else being equal, having a greater access to family-friendly work arrangements does help parents balance work and family commitments. It is important to consider the consequences of these work arrangements on the overall wellbeing of parents with young children. LSAC provides this opportunity, and so following the next two sections that consider the relationships between employment and child care (Section 4) and the time spent with children (Section 5), the final three sections address the issue of work arrangements and parental wellbeing.