Unit 4: Report Writing
Research Report
THE CHANGE IN THE AUSTRALIAN WORK FORCE SINCE THE
END OF WORLD WAR II
Prepared by: NAME SURNAME
Preparation for Tertiary Studies Course
Victorian University of Technology
Lecturer: NAME SURNAME
2
nd
September 2001
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Summary
This report discusses the changes that have occurred in the Australian workforce since
the end of World War II (1945-2000). A review of some of the available literature
provides insights into the changing role of women and migrants in the workforce, and the
influence of new technologies and changing levels of unemployment have also been
considered.
Key findings include:
There has been a marked increase in women’s participation in the workforce,
particularly that of married women.
While immigration was encouraged in post-war Australia as a way of providing
labour for new industries and major projects, the migrant population continues to
experience a high rate of unemployment in low-skilled jobs.
During the period 1945-2000, the nature of work in Australia has changed with a shift
from labour-intensive rural and manufacturing industries to ‘white collar’ industries
like tourism and entertainment.
The number and proportion of unemployed people in Australia has risen dramatically,
and factors that influence a person’s likelihood of experiencing unemployment
include age, proficiency in speaking English, and geographic location.
The information presented in this report has been gathered from secondary sources, and
from Australian Bureau of Statistics’ data.
The report has been prepared for submission as Unit 4 of the Tertiary Studies Course at
Victoria University.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Summary 2
1 Introduction 4
2 Findings 5
2.1 Women’s Workforce Participation Rate
Table 1. Proportion of women in the manufacturing industry 5
2.2 Migrant Workers’ Participation Rates 6
2.3 Employment Categories 7
2.4 Unemployment and Demographic Factors 8
3 Conclusion 10
4 Recommendation 10
5 Reference List 11
6 Appendix A: Employment by Industry, 1970-1995 12
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1 Introduction
The profile of the Australian workforce has altered markedly since the end of World War
II. Australia has transform ed from a nation of predom inantly Anglo-Celtic cultu re and
almost full em ployment to one of rich cultural diversity with relatively high
unemployment. This report exam ines ways in which our workforce has changed,
focusing on the f ollowing categories: women’s workforce participation rates, m igrant
workers’ participation rates, e mployment categories, unemployment rates and
demographic profiles. This repor t will also consider n ew influences affecting the
workforce.
This report is an assessable com ponent of the Preparation for Tertiary Studies course at
Victoria University of Technology, Werribee Campus.
1.1 Methodology
Information for this report was sourced from various secondary sources, all listed in the
Reference List. Data from publications by the Australian Bureau of Statistics also proved
valuable. This report is not a comprehensiv e review of the ava ilable literature, but
provides a broad overview of the topic.
1.2 Scope of the report
Wherever the term ‘workforce’ on its own is u sed, it is in reference to the Austr alian
workforce. Where the infor mation refers to a particular state, th is will be noted. The
period under consideration is 1945 to 2000, alt hough where available data does not cover
the entire period, this is stated. The re port focuses on several key aspects of the
Australian workforce, and is not a com prehensive account of al l changes that have
occurred in the workforce since World War II.
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2. Findings
2.1 Women’s Workforce Participation Rates
The overall participation rate of women in the Australian workforce since the end
of World War II has in creased markedly. The absence of m ale workers during the
war ‘brought into the workforce considerable numbers of women who had not been
employed before the war broke out’ (Ryan and Conlon 1989, p. 137). However,
many women gave up their jobs when the men returned. Their rates of pay
compared to men were reduced in th e post-war years (R yan and Conlon 1989, pp.
140-144). Edna Ryan and Anne Conlon provi de the following table, which shows
that the proportion of women in the manufacturing industry peaked during the war,
declined until 1959, and then began to increase gradually.
Table 1. Proportion of women in the manufacturing industry.
Males to every
100 females
1932-3 239
1938-9 271
1943-4 237
1944-5 250
1947-8 308
1951-2 315
1954-5 325
1957-8 327
1958-9 330
1961-2 326
1962-3 319
Over the next 29 years, cam paigns for equal pay (or at leas t for better than 75 per
cent of the male rate for the same work) took place across many industries, and this
was achieved in principle in 1974 (Ryan and Conlon 1989, ch. 6).
In 1945, 24 per cent of the workforce in Australia was women (Zajdow 1995, p. 3).
By 1947, this had dropped back to 22.4 per cent. In 1973, this had increased to 33
per cent (Ryan and Conlon 1989, p. 174). In 1993, wom en made up 52 per cent of
the workforce (Zajdow 1995, p. 3).
The increase in married women in the workforce has been particularly marked.
‘In 1947 only 15.3 per cent of wom en in the female labour force were
married, or 3.4 per cent of the total labour force. In 1971 56.8 per cent
of women in the fem ale labour force were married, or 18 per cent of
the total labour force.’ (Ryan and Conlon 1989, p. 174)
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Married women’s participation increased rapidly after 1971. This is due, in part, to
the fact that until the 1950s, women in government employment, including teachers
and university staff, had been required to leave their jobs upon m arrying. In 1971,
36 per cent of all m arried women were in paid work. In 1995, 55 per cent of all
married women were in paid work. During this time, the proportion of men in paid
work declined by 10 per cen t, and the proportion of un married women has stayed
the same (Norris and Wooden 1996, p. 2).
Much of the growth in wom en’s employment has occurred as wom en have moved
from the ‘feminine’ careers of teaching a nd nursing into resp ectable ‘white collar’
industries such as banking and retailing (Game and Pringle 1983, p. 19).
Participation in the work force is uneven across different groups of wom en such as
sole parents and Aboriginal and Torres St rait Islanders who have lower rates of
participation. However, the particip ation rate of wom en in ge neral is higher now
than at the conclusion of World War II (Zajdow 1995, p3; Ryan and Conlon 1989,
p. 174).
2.2 Migrant Workers’ Participation Rates
The years since the end of the S econd World War have seen an increase in
immigration into Australia and therefore an increase in the num ber of migrants in
the workforce. Post-war Australia saw th e rapid national developm ent of projects
such as the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. This meant a great dem and
for labour, which the Australian workforce could not fulfil at the tim e. Migrants
were therefore encouraged to come to Australia to f ill such jobs, res ulting in a
period of high migrant employment (Carroll 1989, p. 48).
Workers born overseas now constitute a s ubstantial proportion of the workforce;
however, this group does suffer a high unemployment rate. Some of the reasons for
this include their lack of proficiency in English, the undervaluing or lack of
recognition of qualifications received overseas, the lack of a verifiable employment
‘history’ with which to impress employers, discrimination and under-representation
in trade unions (VandenHeuvel and Wooden 1996, pp. 7-8). All of these factors are
more pronounced among non-English speaking background (NESB) women.
‘Prior to the 1980s, the convent ional wisdom was that NESB
immigrants, including wom en, had higher rates of labour force
participation than their Australia- born counterparts… By the early
1980s, however, this situation had dr amatically altered, such that
labour force participation rates of both NESB men and women now lie
well below that of Australia-born men and wom en.’ (VandenHeuvel
and Wooden 1996, p. 10)
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The large increase in married women in the workforce applies only to Austra lia-
born women (a 14 per cent increase from 1980-94), and English-speaking
background (ESB) m igrants (a 9.7 per cen t increase). The proportion of m arried,
NESB migrant women in the labour force dropped slightly over the period
(VandenHeuvel and Wooden 1996, p. 10). Wo rkforce participation for NESB
women varies depending on their country of origin, but overall, their participation
has decreased (VandenHeuvel and Wooden 1996, p. 11).
Unemployment rates for NESB women show that in 1980 there was little difference
from the unemployment rate of 7-8 per cent for women regardless of their country
of birth (including Australia). By 1994, fi gures for Australia-born and ESB wom en
were still at that level, while the ra te for NESB women had peaked at o ver 16 per
cent in 1993 before falling to 15 per cent (VandenHeuvel and Wooden 1996, p. 15).
Post-war Australia saw a dramatic increa se in immigration; however, the migrant
population does experience a high degree of unemployment and participation in
lower-skilled jobs compared to people born in Australia.
2.3 Employment Categories
The major types of employm ent dominating the workforce at th e conclusion of
World War Two differ greatly from the categories of employm ent available in
recent times. After 1945, the Governm ent encouraged m anufacturing. This was
initially to provide employment for returned servicemen, then later to lower imports
as a m eans to ease its balance o f payment difficulties. Rural ind ustries also
prospered at this tim e due to a short supply of food and basic commodities in
countries badly ravaged by the war. By 1950, 28 per cent of Australians were
employed in secondary industries and 17 per cent in prim ary industries (Carroll
1989, p48). The proportion of Australians employed in these areas has since fallen.
In the early 1970s, the governm ent reduced tariffs for primary exports in an effort
to enter into trade agreem ents with Asian countries. This w as followed soon after
by a recession, and th e markets that the gov ernment had hoped to reach with their
manufactured goods dried up. Australian ru ral and mining industries also suffered
and this reduced em ployee numbers. In the early 1980s, a severe drought and
another economic slump once again reduced employment opportunities in prim ary
industries (Carroll 1989, p56).
From 1970 to 1995, the percentage of the to tal workforce engaged in agriculture
and mining dropped from 9.6 per cent to 6 per cent. The proportion of the
workforce engaged in m anufacturing dropped from 24.5 per cent to 13.6 per cent.
The services industry, including occupati ons like hairdressing, entertainment,
hospitality and tourism , has seen signif icant growth during the sam e period. The
proportion of the workforce engaged in services has increased from 47.8 per cent to
65.7 per cent. (Norris and W ooden 1996, p. 6). See Appendix A for a fi ve-yearly
breakdown of these shifts.
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As the end of the cen tury drew closer, entirely new types of employment emerged
and are still growing. Many labour-intensive industrial jobs are now automated and
performed by com puters, microprocessors or robots. Inform ation technology is
quickly becoming a growing area of em ployment in Austra lia with m any jobs
centred around the selling, servicing, pr ogramming and operating of com puters
(Carroll 1989, p. 56).
The Australian workforce has gone from being largely based around manufacturing
and exporting to being largely based around importing and consumerism.
2.4 Unemployment and Demographic Rates
Australia has experienced a dram atic increase in the rate o f unemployment since
the end of World W ar Two. At that tim e, and for approxim ately the next thirty
years, unemployment was virtually non-exis tent and work was readily available
(Carroll 1989, p. 48). In 1970, the unem ployment rate was 1.5 per cent of the
labour force, and the underem ployment rate was less than 1 per cent (N orris and
Wooden 1996, p. 8). Underemployment is defined as part-time workers who would
prefer to work m ore hours and full-tim e workers who worked less than their usual
hours for economic reasons.
This is in contrast to current tr ends. Between 1970 and 1995, underemploym ent
rose fairly steadily to 7 per cent of the total labour force, while unemployment rose
in three dramatic jumps in the m id-1970s (to 4 per cent), the early 1980s (to 9 pe r
cent) and the early 1990s (to 10 per cent). The late 1980s saw the unemploym ent
rate drop back to less than 6 per cent and, after peaking again at over 10 per cent in
the interim, in 1998, the unem ployment rate had fallen to eight percent (Australian
Bureau of Statistics 1999; Norris and Wooden 1996, p. 8). It is not uncommon for
job seekers to be without em ployment for several years at a tim e. In 1994, 35 per
cent of unemployed people had experienced long-term unemployment. This rate
has decreased since that tim e (Norris and Wooden 1996, p. 9). A range of
demographic factors and indicators affects the current high rate of unemployment.
Several factors determine a person’s likel ihood of experiencing unem ployment in
the current working clim ate. These in clude socio-economic background, area of
residence (rural versus urban areas), prof iciency in speaking English, age, and to a
lesser degree, sex.
The following data was obtained by the Au stralian Bureau of Statistics in
September 1997, and pertains to job seekers nation wide. At this tim e, an average
of twenty-seven percent of job seekers from the lowest socio-economic background
had not worked at all, com pared to seventeen percent of those from higher socio-
economic areas. The proportion of job seekers that had not worked since May 1995
was highest in m ajor urban areas (27 per cent) and lowest in rural areas (20 pe r
cent). There is also a solid link betw een a person’s lack of prof iciency in speaking
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English and unem ployment. Sixty one per cent of persons who do not speak
English proficiently or at all had been unemployed since 1995. It also appears that
the older a person is, the greater the chan ce of being unemployed for a long period
of time. Forty three per cent of job seekers between the ag es of forty-five to fifty-
nine had not worked since May 1995. Fifty per cent of these people reported that
they were considered to be too old by employers. Virtually the same proportions of
male and fe male job seekers were in stable em ployment at September 1997. The
only variation was that for males, this work was predominantly full-time, while for
females, half were working part-time (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1997, p. 20).
In a period of fifty-five years, Australian has tr ansformed from a nation of
practically no unemployment to one of reasonably high unemployment with rather
complex and varied causes.
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3. Conclusion
The Australian workforce has altered greatly in the fifty-five years since the end of World
War II. Many of these changes have been very positive, such as the growth of women in
the workforce, the formation of many new employment categories and the introduction of
migration to cope with a tim e of great industr ial growth, which has in turn enriched our
culture.
There are, however, som e negative aspects associated with the transf ormation. Many
areas of employment have been replaced by m achinery or other technologies, displacing
unskilled workers. Consequently, Australian society is now experiencing a high dem and
for a skilled labour force, and an increasing sector of the population without such skills is
suffering long-term unemployment. The change experienced in such a relatively short
period of time leads to the question: what do the next fifty-five years hold?
4. Recommendation
The information collected for this report provides a broad overview of key changes in the
Australian workforce. Further analysis would be possible if the relevant data for each
year from 1945-2000 was purchased from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The
reliance on secondary sources has resulted in some patchy data. For example, it is not
possible to identify for any given year a breakdown of the Australian workforce by the
following categories:
• unmarried Australia-born women
• married Australia-born women
• unmarried Australia-born men
• married Australia-born men
• unmarried immigrant women
• married immigrant women
• unmarried immigrant men
• married immigrant men
Greater access to primary data would enable a more thorough analysis to be made.
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5. Reference List
Australian Bureau of Statistics 1997, Australians, Employment and Unemployment
Patterns: 1994-1997, ABS, Canberra.
Australian Bureau of Statistics 1999, Year Book Australia 1998, ABS, Canberra.
Carroll, B. 1989, Australians at Work through 200 Years, Kangaroo Press, Sydney.
Game, A. and Pringle, R. 1983, Gender at Work, George Allen & Unwin Australia Pt y
Ltd, North Sydney.
Norris, K. and W ooden, M. (eds.) 1996, The Changing Australian Labour Market,
Economic Planning Ad visory Committee, Australian Governm ent Publishing Service,
Canberra.
Ryan, E. and Conlon, A. 1989 (1975), Gentle Invaders: Australian Women at Work,
Penguin Books Australia, Ringwood.
VandenHeuvel, A. and Wooden, M. 1996, Non-English-speaking-background immigrant
women and part-time work, Bureau of I mmigration, Multicultural and Population
Research, Carlton South.
Victorian Ethnic Affairs Comm ission 1984, Migrants and the Workforce, VEAC,
Melbourne.
Zajdow, G. 1995, Women and Work - Current Issues and Debates, Deakin University
Press, Geelong.
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6. Appendix
Appendix A: Employment by Industry, 1970-1995 (% of total employment)
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
Agriculture and
mining
9.6 8.2 7.8 7.7 6.6 6.0
Manufacturing 24.5 21.6 19.7 16.7 15.3 13.6
Utilities,
construction,
transport &
communication
18.1 18.3 17.2 17.1 15.8 14.7
Services 47.8 52.0 55.4 58.6 62.3 65.7
Table from Norris and Wooden 1996, p. 6.
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