The Sydney suburbs where half the workers are part-time
There are sharp differences in employment patterns across Sydney. This map shows how your suburb compares.
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Sharp differences in employment patterns have developed across Sydney, with half of workers in some suburbs doing part-time hours.
Neighbourhoods with the highest share of part-timers were Katoomba (50 per cent), Auburn (48 per cent) and Haymarket (47 per cent), analysis of census data reveals.
But in some inner-city areas, the share of part-time workers was just one in five. The Sydney suburbs with the lowest share of part-timers were Erskineville in the inner west (19 per cent), St Leonards on the lower north shore (19 per cent) and Woolloomooloo in the inner east (21 per cent).
KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said areas of Sydney with lower rates of part-time work – in the city’s inner west, eastern suburbs and lower north shore – all had high house prices.
“In those areas, many households need to be working full-time to afford living there,” he said. “It’s a real housing affordability and stage of life story.”
Housing is more affordable in many regions with a higher share of part-time work.
The Blue Mountains and Central Coast regions, which both had relatively high rates of part-time work, also had many older residents.
“In those areas, semi-retired residents have probably helped to drive up the number [of part-timers],” Rawnsley said.
Alex Annetta balances a 23-hour-a-week job as a fitness instructor at the InnerFit gym in Leichhardt with being a guitarist for a band called Royale with Cheese, which does 1990s cover songs.
Alex Annetta works part-time as both a personal trainer and a musician. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
“The flexibility of part-time works well for me,” he said. “I know my income will be stable even if the band has a slow month.”
Annetta, 31, also appreciates the diversity that comes with part-time work.
“I like having variety at work and when every week is a bit different – it’s definitely like that with these two jobs,” he said.
About four in every five fitness instructors work part-time, a much larger proportion than for most jobs. Other occupations with a high share of part-time workers are waiters (88 per cent), university tutors (88 per cent) and cafe workers (87 per cent).