After the release of the Federal Government’s budget in early October, there has been much talk among commentators about there being a “pink recession” (Hendy 2020) - indicating that Women had been disproportionately effected by the Covid-19 induced recession.

On the 15/10/2020, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released its most recent employment figures through their labour force survey - enabling an investigation of these claims using the total employment figures, total unemployment rates and the unemployment rates for full-time and part-time work seekers.

Note: Where possible seasonally adjusted figures were used to emphasis the underlying trend, however, only the original data was available for the full-time and part-time unemployment rates.

• There are more Men in the workforce than Women, this is an issue and a source of inequality throughout the world (ILO 2018).
• There was a sharp decline in the number of people employed due to the pandemic.
• Women entered the recession at a marginally higher rate of unemployment.
• In late March, the Male unemployment rate exceeded the Female unemployment rate, however, this was short lived.
• The unemployment rate appears to correlate to the effect the pandemic has had on industries which are Male or Female dominated, this effect has varied at different stages of the pandemic and lockdowns.

• The Female unemployment rate for full-time work has been persistently higher than the male unemployment rate, with a widening disparity between the two despite following a similar trend.
• Interestingly, for people seeking part-time work, the rate of Male unemployment had been higher than the Female rate until August.
• Perhaps the difference in part-time unemployment reflects differences between younger Men and Women in casual jobs, with a preference towards Women.

• Women have been relatively more effected by the pandemic recession than Men so far, however there are some subtle points which need to be made.
• There was a period from March to May where the total Male unemployment rate was higher than the Female rate.
• For part-time work seekers, Men had higher unemployment rates for the majority of period up until August. This might signify that younger men have been disadvantaged too, which seems to be the case.
• To be regarded as unemployed, you must have sought work in the last four weeks (ABS 2020), this measure might be excluding some people.
• Further analysis needs to be conducted to look at age and industry statistics in addition to gender statistics to achieve a wider understanding of what is occurring.

ABS, 2020, Labour Force, Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics, viewed 25 October 2020, https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia/latest-release

ILO, 2018, The gender gap in employment: What’s holding women back?, International Labour Organisation, viewed 30 October 2020, https://www.ilo.org/infostories/en-GB/Stories/Employment/barriers-women#intro

Hendy, N 2020, ‘Pink recession’ looms as women’s finances crushed’, Sydney Morning Herald, viewed 30 October 2020, https://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/pink-recession-looms-as-women-s-finances-crushed-20201013-p564m3.html