Determinants of Australian Mothers’ Employment: An Analysis of Lone and Couple Mothers

While the lower rates of employment of lone mothers as compared with couple mothers has been well-documented, the reasons for the employment gap are less well understood. This paper uses data from the 1996 Australian Census to analyse the factors which explain the employment gap. We find that the employment probability determinants are generally similar for lone and couple mothers, although there are several important differences. In general, factors that are typically associated with lower rates of employment, and could be considered a barrier to employment, have a larger negative effect on the probability of employment of lone mother than on couple mothers. Importantly, it is found that the presence of children has a similar impact on the employment of lone and couple mothers. The analysis also reveals that around one-third of the employment gap is due to differences in the characteristics of the lone and couple mothers.