6239.0 - Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation, Australia, Jul 2008 to Jun 2009 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 08/12/2009   
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MEDIA RELEASE
December 8, 2009
Embargo: 11.30 am (AEDT)
94/2009
Over 400,000 women available to take up work, but not looking for work: ABS

There were 441,400 women not in the labour force who wanted a job and who were available to take up work but were not looking, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Of these women, 104,700 were not looking due to caring for children. The most common reason for these women was that they preferred to look after their children (55%), followed by cost (14%) and no available childcare (12%).

There were 66,100 women who had children 2 years old or younger who were not in the labour force and who wanted work, were available to start but didn't look for work.

There were 1.1 million adult Australians who were not in the labour force, who said they wanted to work. Of these, 728,700 were available to start work, although most of these (94%) did not look for work.

Further details can be found in Barriers and Incentives to Labour Force Participation, Australia, Jul 2006 to Jun 2009(cat. no. 6239.0).