Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

(—) (): Yesterday's employment data demonstrates that a deliberate focus on barriers to workforce participation does make a difference. More women than ever are now in full-time work. Women's workforce participation is at a record high of 62.7 per cent. Women got two-thirds of all the full-time jobs created in the past 12 months, and almost 233,000 women have entered the workforce since last May. We have also seen the gender pay gap drop to the lowest on record at 13.3 per cent. These outcomes are promising and demonstrate that when you take women's economic security seriously you will see the results. That's what we have done. From coming to government, through our Jobs and Skills Summit, we have recognised that gender equality is a core economic imperative, and we have continued this focus in all the work we have done, including improved transparency in gender pay gap reporting, putting gender equality at the heart of our workplace relations system, and investments in fee-free TAFE. (Time expired)