Changing Expectations: Sole Parents and Employment in New Zealand

Kay Goodger, Peter Larose

In the early 1970s divorced and separated women had far higher labour force participation than married women, but this rapidly reversed. Despite obvious explanations such as disincentives for sole parents to work, a rise in general unemployment and economic changes, the size of the widening gap remained unexplained. Recent comparative research has shown that the employment gap between sole and partnered mothers in New Zealand is the widest of any country.

This paper examines a range of factors that might explain the trends in the employment rates of sole mothers in New Zealand, including changes in the economy and the labour market, in family structure and the characteristics of sole mothers, and in the benefit system and other areas of government policy.

We find that the level of economic activity and underlying demographic trends are important in explaining the employment rate of sole mothers, and that examining government policy in isolation from these factors can produce misleading conclusions. Three approaches to increase sole mothers’ employment rates are discussed.