Five years ago, it was revealed just how vulnerable female employment was to the covid pandemic. The nationwide lockdown resulted in 11,000 fewer Kiwi in paid employment -10,000 of whom were women. It wasn’t surprising to see women account for the majority of the job losses. The service industry bore the brunt of restrictions on face-to-face contact. And women are overrepresented. Over 60% of sales workers and over 70% of hospitality workers are female. The lockdown had disproportionately impacted the workforce. Thankfully, the resulting job losses were short-lived. And a silver lining to come from the pandemic was the rise in women testing out other industries traditionally held by men. Construction in particular, no doubt helped by the previous free trades training policy in 2020. The construction sector has had a rough ride over the last couple of years. Tight financial conditions and a subdued housing market has weighed on construction activity and therefore employment. Nonetheless, there are significantly more women in construction. Since Covid, there are close to 50,000 women in construction, a 35% increase from 2019 levels.
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