WOMEN make up 49.5 per cent of the working population in the City of Perth, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Working Population Community Profile.
Women in associate professional occupations showed the highest growth rate of all occupations. They are also becoming more qualified.
The majority of the city’s working women are employed in the property and business services sector. The next highest employment category is in finance and insurance.
Nearly 40 per cent of the city’s female workforce earns between $500 and $799 a week.
Women are working a greater range of hours, with fewer opting for the standard 35 to 39 hour week.
Women working part-time made up 35 per cent of the city’s female workforce which is is also quite youthful with 63 per cent being less than 40 years old.
Women are also playing a bigger part in business ownership.
Recent Small Business Development Corporation survey results show 37 per cent of small business operators in WA are women.
Women are going into business at twice the rate of men, influence 70 per cent of financial decisions in business partnerships and have a lower business failure rate then men.
As a result, institutions such as banks are changing their treatment of women.
Banks now consider women to be a better credit risk with 94 per cent of women receiving loan approvals compared to an 86 per cent approval rating for men.
