Australian women are increasingly remaining employed when they take time off to have a baby according to a report from the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS).
Lead Researcher at AIFS, Jennifer Baxter said the Employment patterns and trends for families with children report found 32 per cent of mothers with babies aged under one year were employed but away from work in 2021, compared to just five per cent in 1991.
Dr Baxter said this represented a six-fold increase in 30 years, “entirely explaining the increase in employment for new mothers over this period.”
“There was virtually no change in the proportion employed and working some hours, remaining at 25 per cent of these new mothers,” Dr Baxter said.
“The study also found an increasing trend for both parents of young children to be working; in 2022, both parents were employed in 71 per cent of couple families with children under 15 years,” she said.
“This compares to 56 per cent in 2000, and 40 per cent in 1979.”
Dr Baxter said the employment trends were the result of key societal changes in recent decades impacting young families.
She said the trends reflected an increased desire for mothers to stay connected to their work when they had a baby.
“This is supported by the availability of parental leave, with some mothers having access to paid leave through work provisions or through the Australian Government’s Paid Parental Leave,” the AIFS Lead Researcher said.
“We know, too, that families are under increasing financial stress, through larger mortgages, which might also provide impetus for women to remain employed when taking time off to care for a baby.”
Dr Baxter said new mothers staying connected to their employer had many benefits for them as individuals as well as for their employers.
“New mothers staying employed enables valuable knowledge and skills to remain within organisations – and provides certainty and security for new mothers when a lot of change is happening in their lives,” she said.
AIFS’s 23-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
