Dimensions and Prevalence of Decent Work in Australia

While this gender gap has historically been attributed to the lower relative flexibility and work freedom women report experiencing in their jobs, a widening of the gap since the pandemic has resulted from an increase in work stress for women, along with greater work-life balance satisfaction of men. [...] As its name indicates, job security relates to people's sense of overall security in their work and the probability of losing one’s job. [...] These factors contributed to significant changes in the experience of job quality as measured by the decent work index. [...] However, the benefits of flexibility are not shared across industries, as discussed in more detail in the section below on decent work by industry and occupation. [...] 20 DIMENSIONS AND PREVALENCE OF DECENT WORK IN AUSTRALIA COMMISSIONED WORK FOR HESTA WORK QUALITY AND PRECARITY BY GENDERWomen experience poorer job quality relative to men and this gap has been widening since the onset of the pandemic. [...] Inflexible work hours combined with women’s lack of freedom to decide how and when to do their work are responsible for the significant gap in job flexibility between men and women. [...] This is the largest contributor to the divide in decent work between men and women. [...] 23 DIMENSIONS AND PREVALENCE OF DECENT WORK IN AUSTRALIA COMMISSIONED WORK FOR HESTA WORK QUALITY AND PRECARITY BY AGEThe youngest generation experiences the highest precarity in their jobs as a result of poorer working conditions and lack of flexibility. [...] Figure 11 shows that younger workers experience similar levels of work stress and job security to other groups. However, poor working conditions and lack of flexibility contribute most to the generational gap. [...] Mining is an industry with a relatively tight spread of decent work scores, indicating that work conditions, level of flexibility, work stress and job security are similar for a greater share of those within the sector.