Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I say to the member that the number of women who have entered the workforce over the last 12 months represents about 109,000, and there has been a significant infusion of women coming back into work for the first time in the last 10 years. The number of long-term unemployed coming in, particularly the number of women coming in, has meant that they have gone into low-paying jobs as a starting point—particularly in the hospitality and retail industries—whereas in industries such as the mining industry—where, overwhelmingly, the majority of workers are men—the wages have gone up.

I make this further point: there are more women today in the Australian workforce than ever before, and they have more choice. One of the areas that they consider to be very important is in relation to casual work.

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