Jobs spike for women

A RECORD six in every 10 Australian women of working age have a job or are seeking one, official figures show, spurred on by a rise in flexible workplace arrangements.

The emerging trend came as Australia put on a bumper 54,200 jobs during the month, keeping the unemployment rate steady at a three-month low of 5.6 per cent as the swing back to full-timers accelerates.

The nation added 40,100 full-time positions on top of 14,100 extra part-time roles, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, smashing market consensus and marking the first time this year both categories have risen.

Full-timers now account for four out of every five jobs cre- ated this year in a strong indication employers are seeing enough forward demand to make long-term staffing commitments.

More than 250,000 new jobs have been created in the past six months – the strongest such period in 17 years.

The participation rate – which encompasses the proportion of working-age Australians either with a job or actively looking – hit a near five-year high of 65.3 per cent.

Despite the gains, employers are yet to fully put their expanded rosters to work.

The total number of hours worked rose just 0.4 per cent on a month earlier, while a measure of under-utilisation, which tracks workers willing and available to work more hours, was only marginally down from its all-time high. The Australian dollar was buoyed by the strong figures, however, punching back through US80¢ after having slipped in the face of a rally in the US greenback overnight on Wednesday.

Women led the way in Victoria, accounting for threequarters of the 18,600 new jobs in August.

The state’s female participation rate of 60.7 per cent was an all-time high since records began in 1978, as was the nation’s equivalent at 60 per cent.

“We did see a massive ramp-up in women in the workforce in the lead-up to the financial crisis but workplaces are now more open to being flexible,” said Callam Pickering, an economist at online job board Indeed.