Ethnicity

Compared with all prime-aged women, European women are over-represented as sales workers - European women are 73.3% of prime-aged female employees but 79.2% of prime-aged female sales workers. Maori and Pacific female employees are over-represented as cleaners/caretakers and as personal care workers. Maori women are 5.5% of all prime-aged female employees but 14.3% of women employed as cleaners/caretakers and 6.4% of personal care workers. Pacific women are 3.9% of all prime-aged female employees but 14.0% of women employed as cleaners/caretakers and 5.4% of personal care workers. Women of other ethnicities are also over-represented as personal care workers.

Hours and working conditions

In all three occupations, but particularly for cleaners/caretakers, working shorter hours is more common than it is for all prime-aged female employees on average. Per week, the average hours worked by female employees in their main job was 23 hours for cleaners/caretakers, 29 hours for sales workers and 30 hours for personal care workers. The average hours worked by all prime-aged female employees was 33 hours per week and 44 hours per week for male prime-aged employees (Figure 16).

Figure 16: Usual hours of work in main job of prime-aged women employed as care workers, sales workers and cleaners/caretakers, March 2008

Data table for Figure 16

Low-paid female employees worked less hours on average than all prime-aged female employees, which is consistent with low pay being more prevalent amongst shorter hours workers (see below). Notwithstanding this, an estimated 50,700 low-paid prime-aged women - nearly a third of all prime-aged low-paid women (32.9%) - worked 40 hours or more a week in March 2008 (Figure 17).

Figure 17: Hours of work by low-paid prime-aged women carers, sales workers and cleaners/caretakers, March 2008

Data table for Figure 17

Temporary work

One in five (19.6%) prime-aged female cleaners and caretakers are temporary employees - this was significantly more than the rates of temporary employment for personal care workers (8.1%) and sales workers (5.1%), both of which were below the 9.7% overall average rate of temporary work for all prime-aged female employees. In all three occupations, there was little difference between the rates of temporary work for the group as a whole and for those who were low paid.

Working time

Prime-aged women care workers (78.2%) and cleaners (79.5%) are less likely to work mainly daytime hours than sales workers (94.5%) and all women (90.4%).

Wanting to work more hours

Women in these three occupations have a significantly higher preference for working more hours than all prime-aged females (8.4%) and that of prime-aged females working less than full-time (15.5%). More than a quarter (25.6%) of prime-aged women cleaners or caretakers wanted to work more hours, and this rate was higher for female cleaners who were low paid (30.4%). For sales workers, 13.8% of all prime-aged women and 16.8% of low-paid women wanted to work more hours. The proportions of personal care workers wanting to work more hours were 17.3% and 18.9% respectively. Of all female prime-aged employees who were low paid, 17.2% wanted to work more hours, while 22.9% of those who were low paid and working less than 37 hours wanted to work more hours.

Tenure

There is high turnover amongst prime-aged women working as cleaners, caretakers and sales workers. More than three in 10 (31%) of prime-aged females employed as cleaners and caretakers and a similar proportion of those employed as sales workers (30%) had been in their jobs for less than 1 year, and this proportion increased to more than one in three (33.4% for cleaners and caretakers and 36.9% for sales workers) for the low paid. This is significantly higher than the 22% of all prime-aged female employees who have been in their jobs for less than a year but comparable to the 32.2% of low-paid prime-aged females who have been in their jobs for less than a year. Considerably more prime-aged women employed as cleaners and caretakers (30%) than sales workers (21.1%) had been in their jobs more than 5 years. Personal care workers, on the other hand, had a more stable tenure pattern that was quite similar to that of prime-aged women overall.

Establishment size and sector

A large proportion of female personal care workers (51.7%) are employed in establishments of 50 or more employees. The comparative figure for all prime-aged female employees is 34% and for all prime-aged employees is 32%. Sales workers (23.6%) and cleaners (28.6%) were much less likely to be employed in large establishments and more likely to be employed in establishments with less than 20 employees (57% and 50.5% respectively) than all female employees (43.6%).

Women employed as sales workers are the most likely to work in the private sector (90.3%) compared to cleaners (63.8%) and personal care workers (48.2%). This compares to 57.3% for all prime-aged female employees and 64.5% for all prime-aged employees.

Training

Significantly higher proportions of prime-aged women employed as cleaners and caretakers (84.7%) and as sales workers (80.4%) reported receiving no employer-funded study or training in the previous 12 months than was the case for prime-aged women on average (66.6%). The proportion not receiving training were even higher amongst the low paid (91.6% of cleaners/caretakers and 87.2% of sales workers), but personal care workers received more training than prime-aged women on average - 41% of all prime-aged women employed as personal care workers and 39.4% of personal care workers who were low paid reported receiving training in the previous year compared with 37.4% of all prime-aged female employees. Moreover, a higher proportion of females employed as personal care workers (14.9% of the group and 15.9% of the low-paid group) reported receiving 6 days or more training than was the case for all prime-aged female employees (10%).

Qualifications

While nearly half of all prime-aged female employees working as cleaners/caretakers (48.8%) reported having no qualifications, the percentages with no qualifications were significantly lower for sales workers (25.1%) and personal care workers (27.1%) although still higher than the percentage of all female employees without qualifications (15.7%).

Overall, there is little difference in the qualification profile of low paid prime-aged female employees, and all prime-aged female employees, in the three occupations. A much higher proportion of personal care workers have post-school qualifications and the qualifications levels seem out of step with the pay profile. What we do not know is how many female employees moved into these occupations because, as research in Australia and the UK suggests, they were not able to work shorter or different hours in a previous occupation (eg: Manning and Robinson, 2005; Chalmers and Hill, 2005). There may be other contributing factors; for example, immigrants are overrepresented in the personal care workforce and a proportion of these are qualified nurses or other professionals who are working at a lower level pending their New Zealand registration (Badkar et al, 2008; Walker, undated).

Figure 18: Highest qualifications of cleaners/caretakers, sales workers and personal care workers, March 2008

Data table for Figure 18

Overall, the qualification levels seem out of step with the pay profile. What we do not know is how many female employees moved into these occupations because, as research in Australia and the UK suggests, they were not able to work shorter or different hours in a previous occupation (for example, Manning and Robinson, 2005; Chalmers and Hill, 2005).

There may be other contributing factors, for example, immigrants are over-represented in the personal care workforce, and a proportion of these are qualified nurses or other professionals who are working at a lower level pending their New Zealand registration (Badkar, Callister and Didham, 2008; Walker, undated).

Pay

Low pay is very common in the target occupations. Proportionately more prime-aged women who are employed as cleaners and caretakers are low paid (74.8%) than sales workers (65%) or personal care workers (63.9%). These rates of low pay are more than double the average for all prime-aged women and more than three times higher than the average of 20.5% of all prime-aged employees.

The concentration of workers at low hourly pay levels is evident in Figure 19, and it also shows that personal care workers are concentrated at a slightly higher hourly wage than sales workers who, in turn, earn more than prime-aged women working as cleaners and caretakers.

Figure 19: Percentage distribution of prime-aged females by hourly wage

Data table for Figure 19

Pay progression for those who remain in the same occupation

Figure 20 examines wage patterns by tenure in the current job. This data needs to be treated as a partial view of pay progression as it does not capture progression that has lifted workers into a more senior job that was coded to a different occupation nor the progression that has occurred amongst workers who have changed enterprise. It also does not take account of any changing demographic characteristics of the workforce.

Figure 20 shows that prime-aged female employees who remain in these same occupations and with the same employer (30% of prime-aged women cleaners, 33.7% of personal care workers and 21.1% of sales workers report being in the same job for 5 years or more) earn very little more and, in the case of cleaners, no more than workers with less tenure. Working full-time hours does not influence the results.

Figure 20: Average hourly earnings by job tenure for prime-aged female employees, March 2008

Data table for Figure 20

The impact of qualifications on pay

Average hourly pay rates are somewhat higher for prime-aged women with qualifications, but for women who are employed as cleaners, personal care workers or sales workers, there is no consistent pattern of higher pay for those with more qualifications whether they work full-time or not (Figure 21).

Figure 21: The relationship of highest qualification to average hourly wages for prime-aged female employees, March 2008

Data table for Figure 21

This is consistent with Dixon's (2001) analysis of the gender pay gap, which found women's occupations are a strong influence on the pay gap and that part-time women workers do not experience a disadvantage in their hourly pay when compared with workers in the same occupations with similar skills and experience. However, other international studies have found working part-time in itself does lower pay (for example, Manning and Petrongolo, 2004). Changing jobs and the limited geographical mobility of mothers, in particular, have also been identified as factors that contribute to them being in low-paid jobs that do not fully use their skills (Walby and Olsen, 2002).

Earned income within families

As shown in Figure 22, prime-aged women who are employed as sales workers, personal care and support workers, but particularly as cleaners/caretakers are more likely than all prime-aged women to be either single or have a partner who is not employed. Around 40-45% of all prime-aged women in these occupations do not have other earners in their families, and the same is true (40.8%) for all low-paid prime-aged female employees. This will be part of the reason why this group has a significant take-up of Work and Income supplements.

Figure 22: Partnership status and employment status of partners of prime-aged employees, March 2008

Data table for Figure 22