4.3 Historical trends
4.3.1 Trends from 1976 to 2001
Figure 5 shows a consistent series of Census-based labour force participation rates from 1976 to 2001.[13] In most age groups, women’s participation has increased between each Census (Figure 5a). The dip in women’s participation, which was very pronounced in 1976, has also been shallowing out, so that the “m-shaped” participation profile has become much less distinguishable over time. The dip has also moved over to the right, probably reflecting the trend of increasing age of mothers.
At the same time, participation rates for men, at least in the peak working ages, have been falling (Figure 5b). For older men, however, participation has increased markedly over the past decade, largely as a result of the change in eligibility for Superannuation from age 60 to age 65 (Hurnard 2003).
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- b. men
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- Source: Author’s calculations based on Census documents from 1976-2001.
Figure 5 – Labour force participation, 1976-2001
a. women
While the increases in women’s participation and decreases in men’s participation have to some extent cancelled each other out, the overall trend has been towards increasing participation amongst the population as a whole. Except for 15-24 year olds, the total participation rate for men and women combined was higher for all age groups in 2001 than it was in 1976.
Most of the increase in “prime-aged” women’s participation since 1976 has been in full-time, as distinct from part-time, employment. In younger and older age groups, however, there have been large increases in part-time employment since 1976.
Notes
- [13]Putting together a consistent historical series is complicated by issues of measurement—Census definitions, and therefore the data collected and presented, have changed over time. The wording of some questions has also changed between Censuses. Before 1986, full-time employment was defined as working 20 or more hours a week. Since 1986 full-time employment has been defined as working 30 hours or more a week. Also, before 1991, unemployment was defined simply as seeking work; from 1991 it was defined as actively seeking work, in line with the HLFS definition. The series shown here uses the latest definitions, and older Census data has been adjusted to reflect this. It has not been possible to extend this series back beyond 1976. To adjust for differences in the definition of unemployment, HLFS unemployment backdates calculated by Chapple (1994) have been used.
