Gender job rate puzzle

WHEN it comes to work on the Gold Coast, it’s a man’s world.

While the official unemployment rate for the Glitter Strip is sitting at a nifty 3.7 per cent, the gulf between the sexes couldn’t be more stark.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures just released, the June rate for women is 4.5 per cent, slightly up on the rates for February to May but down on January’s 5 per cent.

However, the rate for men is an astonishingly low 2.9 per cent, a figure that was only bettered way back in July 2012 when the rate was 2.1 per cent.

More than 181,000 men were working in June, while 158,900 women worked.

Overall the Gold Coast set a new record for the number of workers employed, with more than 340,000 drawing a pay cheque during the month.

But the remarkable difference in the rates between the sexes has local business identities stumped.

Greater Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce president and manager of The Pines Shopping Centre Hilary Jacobs pointed the finger at the Commonwealth Games.

“During the build-up and the Commonwealth Games it was clear that proportion of the Games shapers (volunteers) and Commonwealth Games employees were women so it’s possible that they participated more heavily in either paid work or as volunteers during that period,” she said.

Gold Coast North Chamber of Commerce president Martin Brady said he felt that weak overall performances in the hospitality and retail sectors could be impacting the figures.