COVID-19’s impact on women and work

Women have fared worse than men across key labour market measures since COVID-19 and alert level measures began impacting New Zealand’s labour market, Stats NZ said today.

“Unemployment rates for men and women rose by similar amounts over the quarter – up 1.2 and 1.3 percentage points, respectively – but looking at quarterly changes right now only tells part of the story,” labour market manager Andrew Neal said.

“The March 2020 quarter captured New Zealand’s labour market prior to the impact of COVID-19. Changes between then and the September 2020 quarter show that while both sexes have been negatively impacted, women have been worse affected.”

Labour market measureMenWomen
Employed-9000-22000
Unemployed1100019000
Underutilised3600048000
Not in Labour Force1200021000

Disproportionate fall in employed women

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted number of people in employment fell by 31,000 between the March and September 2020 quarters – over two-thirds (22,000) were women.

As a result, the employment rate for women fell from 62.8 percent to 61.2 percent over the period. The rate for men fell from 72.8 percent to 71.8 percent.

“Last quarter, the seasonally adjusted fall in employment came mostly from women, while the unadjusted fall was much more evenly split between men and women,” Mr Neal said.

“Usually, June and September quarters show low employment for men, so we adjust our estimates upward to help remove seasonal falls in employment and allow us to make meaningful quarterly comparisons. Conversely, March and December quarters get adjusted downward to remove regular seasonal rises. Employment for women tends to be less seasonal, so it isn’t adjusted by as much.”

See Impact of COVID-19 on seasonally adjusted and trend series for more information on how Stats NZ is treating seasonally adjusted series that have been affected by COVID-19 lockdown and restrictions.

Unadjusted, there was a 44,700 person decrease in employment between the March and September 2020 quarters, 24,200 of whom were women.

Of this unadjusted decrease in employed women, 19,700 came from tourism-characteristic industries, such as accommodation, passenger transport, travel agencies, sightseeing operators, and cafés and restaurants. While these are seasonal industries, the size of this fall is unusual and is likely related to additional COVID-19-related factors.

See Fewer women working in tourism industries for more information from the June 2020 quarter and which industries are tourism-characteristic.

QuarterMen
Mar-18126600
Jun-18121500
Sep-18126700
Dec-18126000
Mar-19121600
Jun-19123300
Sep-19127600
Dec-19126600
Mar-20134800
Jun-20125300
Sep-20123900
119200134000
113200129800
117800135600
116200135700
113200130100
114600132000
118300136900
116400136800
122900146600
114700135800
113300134600
QuarterWomen
Mar-18138000
Jun-18131000
Sep-18140200
Dec-18138000
Mar-19143800
Jun-19136600
Sep-19140200
Dec-19146700
Mar-20144400
Jun-20124900
Sep-20124700
129200146800
122000139900
131100149300
127800148200
133700154000
127900145300
131600148800
138000155500
135500153300
116600133100
116400133100

Unemployment and underutilisation rising

Underutilisation (seasonally adjusted) increased by 84,000 between the March and September 2020 quarters – 48,000 more underutilised women and 36,000 more underutilised men.

Nationally, the underutilisation rate reached 13.2 percent over this period, with a rate for women of 16.2 percent.

QuarterMenWomenTotal
Mar-057.411.79.4
Jun-057.711.89.6
Sep-057.311.29.1
Dec-05711.99.3
Mar-067.310.89
Jun-067.210.38.6
Sep-067.210.78.8
Dec-068.312.710.4
Mar-078129.9
Jun-077.312.69.8
Sep-077.3119
Dec-077.511.19.2
Mar-088.412.310.3
Jun-088.511.710
Sep-088.612.610.5
Dec-089.313.611.3
Mar-0910.514.312.3
Jun-0911.815.813.7
Sep-091316.814.8
Dec-0912.817.515
Mar-1011.615.813.6
Jun-1012.316.214.2
Sep-1011.516.513.9
Dec-1011.616.514
Mar-1111.416.914
Jun-1112.116.314.1
Sep-1111.116.413.6
Dec-1112.115.513.7
Mar-1211.716.814.1
Jun-1211.917.814.7
Sep-1213.517.715.6
Dec-1212.417.314.7
Mar-1310.415.913
Jun-1310.616.213.3
Sep-1311.117.314.1
Dec-1311.117.114
Mar-1410.915.813.2
Jun-1410.516.413.3
Sep-1410.215.612.8
Dec-1410.516.413.3
Mar-1510.816.613.6
Jun-1510.616.813.6
Sep-1511.216.513.7
Dec-1510.11512.5
Mar-1611.316.313.7
Jun-1610.515.913
Sep-161015.612.7
Dec-169.715.412.4
Mar-179.315.512.3
Jun-179.514.711.9
Sep-179.315.312.1
Dec-179.415.312.2
Mar-189.514.611.9
Jun-189.914.412
Sep-189.313.711.4
Dec-189.914.612.2
Mar-19913.911.3
Jun-199.113.111.1
Sep-198.412.610.4
Dec-198.411.910.1
Mar-208.312.810.4
Jun-209.314.912
Sep-2010.616.213.2

For women, this came relatively equally from underemployment (up 22,000) and unemployment (up 19,000) between the March and September 2020 quarters, with a relatively small increase in the potential labour force (up 7,000).

A far greater proportion of the increase in underutilisation for men came from underemployment (up 20,000), as the number of employed men working part-time increased from 10.9 percent to 11.7 percent.

To be underemployed, an employed person must be working part-time and both wanting and available to work more, so increased part-time work often links closely to increased underemployment.

Growing number of women not in the labour force

In the September 2020 quarter, the seasonally adjusted number of women not in the labour force (NILF) rose 1,000, while male NILF fell 6,000.

This contrasts with the June 2020 quarter, when the 38,000 growth in NILF came roughly equally from men and women, as COVID-19 restrictions hindered people’s ability to actively seek work.

“Being outside the labour force isn’t necessarily a negative thing for people,” Mr Neal said.

“Retirees, stay-at-home parents, and those studying full-time can all be not in the labour force, and many of them are happy with these circumstances. What can be a concern is when we see rises amongst people who are not in the labour force and don’t want to be – those who tell us there’s no work available or that childcare hasn’t allowed them to look, such as those in the potential labour force.”

“Over the past few quarters, we’ve been collecting wellbeing data alongside the household labour force survey. This has shown a mixed picture for people who are not in the labour force, with different groups under this broad umbrella having some of the highest and lowest life satisfaction measures.”

For more information on wellbeing in the June 2020 quarter, see Unemployed people less satisfied with life.

Definitions and metadata

The household labour force survey (HLFS) continues to collect data on sex as a male/female binary and currently collects no information on gender and the diverse ways that people identify.

Stats NZ is reviewing how it collects sex and gender information and are working on the appropriate ways to begin updating our current surveys.

/Stats NZ Public Release. View in full here.