Firstly, the data shows that over the last year there was an increase of 0.6%in the number of men who are "under-employed" when averaged over all age groups whilst the number of under-employed women remained constant. However, the previous year, the number of under-employed women decreased whilst the number of un-employed men remained the same. Given that unemployment has increased in this period, it might suggest that perhaps the decrease in underemployed women resulted from them losing their part-time jobs. Furthermore, the number of underemployed women is much higher than the number of unemployed men - thus the above changes actually result in a very minor increase in the average underemployed rate overa the last three years (see Graph 2 from the Australian Bureau of Statistics). Prior to that, the number of underemployed men and women both showed the same trends, thus highlighting the increase in underemployability as an issue specifically impacting men seems somewhat flawed. However, if the number of underemployed is considered as a propotion of the workforce overall, then this may explain the apparent bias, given the workforce is still dominated by men. This does not, however, consider the complications of those trying to enter the work force.
This is particuarly true when one considers that if the data are broken down into age categories, women have higher rates on underemployment within every age category. In fact, all categories for men aged over 25 have lower rates of underemployment than any age category of women. Admittedly, 15-24 year old males have a higher rate of undermployment (at 16%) than women from older age groups, but the underemployment rate of 15-24 year old females is higher still (20%). In fact, there is a pronounced increase in the number of 15-24 year olds over the past 10 years (see graph 3). As this age group form a smaller component of the workforce, the actual increase in the number of underemployed youths is similar to the increase observed in the number of underemployed people aged over 45 (ABS, 2017). It should be remembered, however, that within each of these age categories, women have a higher rate of underemployment.
These graphs suggest that women and youths are under-represented in the work force but over-represented in the underemployed component. More detailed comparisons with umeployment rates and how these change over time for different genders and age groups may help shed some more light on the topic. If, however, a decrease in the number of men working full-time is associated with a greater number of women being able to access employment (either part-time or fulltime), is this necessarily a problem? Isn't a greater, more balanced representation of women in the workforce an outcome that benefits society overall?
If you are intersted in finding out more, you can access the data or read the original report published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
