How work has changed since the 1960s

Careers
Cara Jenkin

Work in the 1960s revolved around a nine-to-five workday, men supported their wives and
children at home and jobs usually involved physical labour.

Staff smoked on the job, even in the office, and there was no call for correct etiquette in the
staff kitchen as tea ladies brought mid-morning refreshments around to workers.

Fast forward 50 years and social revolutions have placed women on a more equal standing in
the workplace and technology has produced more sedentary and mental work.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics analysed the past five decades to find substantial growth
in the number of people in the workforce, particularly women, who now return to jobs after
having children.

``There is also considerable diversity in how families participate in the labour force,'' its latest
Australian Social Trends report reveals.

``The traditional male breadwinner arrangements have declined since the 1960s and now both
partners of couple families are likely to be employed.

The 1960s marked the start of the women's liberation movement which brought wives and
mothers out of the home and into part-time work, previously unheard of.

In 1961, 34 per cent of women were employed (59 per cent today). Those that were married
wouldn't have been employed by the public service, which did not lift its ban on hiring
married women until 1966.

It was the year the contraceptive pill went on sale in Australia, which gave women greater
choice of when and how many children they were going to have and therefore their ability to
participate in the workforce.

Most of the jobs in the 1960s were in production such as agriculture or manufacturing, which
employed 46 per cent of workers. Now that proportion is just 23 per cent.

Australian Institute of Social Research executive director Professor John Spoehr said
technology had transformed the way people worked.
``Where once hardly anyone used a computer in the workplace, the majority of people are
engaging with computers or some form of information communication technology that's
really transforming the way we communicate,'' he said.

``Hardly any letters are being opened (today) and emails are coming in to the inboxes by the
dozens each day.

``The other big transformation is the rise of the vocational qualifications of workers in the
workplace.

``We are better educated than we were half a century ago and that's led to higher incomes.''

He said it led to increased employment in the services sector, ranging from retail to health and
community services.

It is also harder to obtain entry-level jobs straight from school today than in the 1960s, with
completion of Year 12 and an additional qualification, whether vocational or from university,
increasingly a prerequisite to get a job.

``On-the-job experience was important 50 years ago. Employers did invest in training of their
employees and the whole apprenticeship system was more significant and more invested in by
employers than it has been now,'' Prof Spoehr said.

``There's some prospect of that changing as employers are competing more for skilled labour
in the next 10 years in the face of an ageing workforce.''

A higher education than Year 10 will often still be required as the workforce requires high
levels of literacy and numeracy and higher general levels of communication skills.

Tony Robins, founder of Tony Robins Recruiters, has worked in the Adelaide recruitment
industry for 47 years and said many more positions were advertised today than when he first
entered the industry. Word of mouth is still a key factor but employers now have to cast the
net wider than they did 50 years ago by advertising positions.

``A lot of recruiting was done by word of mouth, who you know. If someone could
recommend you,'' he said. ``There was a reasonably substantial workforce available for work.

``There wasn't a huge shortage of skills. There's a huge shortage now of people who have
skills.'

Mr Robins said the things that had not changed were employees wanted to work for a good
employer who recognised their efforts. Employers wanted staff who remained loyal.