5.3  Employment and participation of particular groups of women in the OECD

The data presented in Section 4.4 identified that qualifications, the presence and age of children, and being a sole or partnered mother, are important influences on women’s labour force participation. This section compares the employment or participation of different groups of women, defined by these characteristics, across the OECD. We consider, where we can, the employment or participation rate of different groups of women, and also their prevalence in the population. Both of these factors affect the overall participation of women in New Zealand compared to women in the OECD. For the most part, employment rates are reported here rather than participation rates, as this is how the data are presented in the various OECD publications. Employment rates differ from participation rates by not including people who are unemployed.

Compared to other OECD countries, the employment of women with pre-school children in New Zealand is low (Figure 18a). Women with school-aged children, however, have reasonably strong employment rates compared to those in most other countries (Figure 18b). The difference in employment rates between New Zealand women with pre-school and with school-aged children (24 percentage points) is the third-highest in the OECD, behind only Japan and the Czech Republic.

Figure 18 – Employment of mothers in the OECD, 2001

a. with youngest child aged under 6

b. with youngest child aged 6-14

Source: Eurostat on-line data; individual countries’ statistical agencies; OECD (2002b) Indicator SS4.2.

Note that the relative position of New Zealand in these two figures does not change if the defining age for a pre-school child is taken to be under 5 years in New Zealand rather than under 6 years.

Furthermore, the employment of women with no children in New Zealand is up with the highest in the OECD (Figure 19).

Figure 19 – Employment of women aged 20-49 in the OECD with no children, 2001

Source: Eurostat on-line data; individual countries’ statistical agencies; OECD (2002a) Table 2.4.

Ideally, we would like to know what proportion of women in different OECD countries are mothers, and in particular what proportion are mothers of pre-school children. If New Zealand women are more likely to have children, especially young children, in their households compared to women in other countries, this would partially explain the low participation of New Zealand women of childbearing (and childrearing) age. Such information is difficult to find, however, so we use, as a proxy measure, total fertility rates across the OECD. This reveals that New Zealand has one of the highest fertility rates in the OECD (Figure 20). High fertility rates might explain some of the relatively low participation of younger New Zealand women; although it is also the case that Iceland has high fertility in conjunction with the highest participation rates in the OECD.

Figure 20 – Total fertility rates in the OECD, 2002

Source: OECD (2005) Indicator GE3.

The total fertility rate in a particular year is the average number of births a woman would have during her reproductive life if she were exposed to the fertility rates characteristic of various childbearing age groups in that year.

Turning now to sole parenthood, New Zealand stands out for its low employment of sole parents (Figure 21). Differences between countries in the employment of sole parents are likely to be caused, in no small part, by the eligibility for, and generosity of, social welfare programmes for sole parents in the various countries. The OECD (2003a) suggests that the low employment of sole parents in New Zealand may be due to a lack of work requirements for sole parents, a relatively passive benefit system, relatively high benefit rates compared to the average wage, and high effective marginal tax rates.

Figure 21 – Employment of sole parents, various years (1996-2001)

Source: OECD (2002b) Indicator SS3.2; OECD (2003b) Table 3.6; 2001 Census (New Zealand).

New Zealand also has a high prevalence of sole parent families (Figure 22). In New Zealand, sole parent families make up over a quarter of all families with children: together with the United States this is the highest proportion of sole parent families in the OECD.

Figure 22 – Sole parent families as a percentage of all families with children, 1996

Source: Eurostat on-line data; individual countries’ statistical agencies; OECD (2002b) Indicator GE7.2.