Age Distribution
34 The age and gender distribution of Public Service staff as at 30 June 1999 is shown in Figure 5.14 For comparative purposes, the age and gender distribution of the total New Zealand employed labour force in June 1999 have also been included.15
Figure 5: Age and Gender Distribution of the Public Service and the New Zealand Labour Force (June 1999)
35 The Public Service is concentrated in a narrower range of age groups than the total employed labour force. Almost three-quarters of all Public Service staff (72%) as at 30 June 1999 were aged between 25 and 50 years, compared with nearly two thirds of the total employed labour force (62%). These proportions have changed little over recent years. One-fifth of each of the Public Service and total labour force was aged over 50 years in June 1999. The proportion of those aged over 60 years has increased in recent years due to the changes in eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation. This effect has been more pronounced in the labour force as a whole than in the Public Service.
36 The Public Service employs a markedly lower proportion of people aged less than 25 years (7%) than the total labour force (16%). This is possibly a consequence of a reduction in opportunities for young people to enter the Public Service workforce (such as the removal of cadetships over the past decade, and a tendency for departments to "buy" skills and experience rather than "grow" them); employers increasingly seeking higher minimum levels of qualification from potential employees; and consequent changes in the "demographics of education" (namely an increasing trend for young people to proceed on to further tertiary education after leaving secondary school).
37 The age distribution of men and women within the Public Service varies considerably. Women form significantly higher proportions than men do in younger age groups. Almost two thirds (65%) of all staff aged less than 35 years in the Public Service are women. Women have a particularly high concentration in the 25 to 40 year age bands, with women in these age groups making up a quarter (26%) of the total Public Service workforce. In contrast, men in the Public Service have a more even distribution across all the age groups.
38 In previous years, men have formed a slightly higher proportion than women have in each age band from 40 years onwards. This year, however, there is a higher proportion of women than men in all age groups up to 60 years, after which age both men and women are represented in similar proportions. This shift in the gender balance within each age group is likely to be due to a reduction in the overall number of men employed in the Public Service over the past year16.
14 The age group of 467 Public Service employees (1.5%) was unknown, and this group is therefore excluded from Figure 5 and the discussion.
15 Source: Statistics NZ's Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) for June 1999. This data relates to the total New Zealand employed labour force, which includes wage and salary workers and those who are self employed.
16 In June 1998 there were 14,547 men employed in the Public Service. By June 1999 this figure had dropped by just over 1000 to 13,425 men.