Potts Point has Sydney's longest average working week

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 5 years ago

Potts Point has Sydney's longest average working week

By Matt Wade

It hosts Sydney’s iconic Coca-Cola sign and is one of the city's most densely populated suburbs.

But the harbour-side neighbourhood of Potts Point has something else that sets it apart – the city's longest working hours.

Workers in Potts Point put in an average of 42 hours a week, analysis of the latest census shows.

The next highest suburb for average hours worked was The Rocks (40.8 hours) followed by Peats Ridge, near Gosford (40.3) and Millers Point (40.1).

Other suburbs with high average working hours were Elizabeth Bay and Paddington along with the western Sydney neighbourhood of Shanes Park.

The suburb-level data from the 2016 census draws attention to the disparities in access to employment across the Sydney basin.

There was a strong correlation between longer working hours and close proximity to major employment hubs, especially the central business district.

The census data draws attention to the disparities in access to employment across the Sydney basin.

The census data draws attention to the disparities in access to employment across the Sydney basin.Credit: Paul Rovere

Seven of the 10 suburbs with the longest average working hours were within about five kilometres of the CBD. Two exceptions to this pattern were the inner-suburbs of Haymarket and Ultimo. Haymarket had Greater Sydney’s lowest average weekly work hours at 28.1 hours while Ultimo was tenth lowest at 31.5 hours. This may reflect the large share of students who work part-time in those suburbs.

Advertisement

Most neighbourhoods with relatively low average working hours were a long distance from the CBD. This included Whale Beach, Airds, Katoomba and parts of the Central Coast.

The suburban averages took into account the hours worked by full-timers and part-timers.

Regional economics expert, Terry Rawnsley, said the closer people are located to major job hubs the more likely it is for them to find work that suits them.

“But if people are a long distance from jobs, that match-up is much harder,” he said.

“If you are in a growth area in the far north-west or south-west of Sydney, getting to that nearest job that suits you is so much, much harder.”

Rawnsley said the type of housing stock was also a factor in the patterns of average working hours.

“Inner-city suburbs have many smaller dwellings which attract younger singles and couples without children who tend to work full-time,” he said. “That drives up average working hours."

Middle-ring and outer suburbs tend to have more families and a bigger share of workers employed part-time.

“That tends to pull down the average hours worked,” Rawnsley said.

More than half of the suburbs across Greater Sydney had average work hours of less than 35 hours a week. In 20 suburbs the average hours worked was at least 10 hours per week less than in Potts Point.

Workers of Potts Point were spending a little longer at work in 2016 than the previous census in 2011 when the suburb’s average hours worked was 41.9 hours per week.

The census showed 77 per cent of workers in Potts Point were employed full-time, well above the citywide average of 61 per cent.

Workers living in The Rocks were also working longer hours - the average in that suburb rose from 40.6 hours a week in 2011 to 40.8 hours in 2016.

The census also revealed 65.2 per cent of the workers in Potts Point work 40 hours or more each week, the second highest share of any suburb in the city.

Millers Point had the highest proportion of employees working more than 40 hours at 67 per cent. However, the average hours worked in Millers Point fell slightly from 40.3 hours in 2011 and to 40.1 hours in 2016.

In Greater Sydney 46 per cent of employees worked 40 hours or more per week, the 2016 census found. About two-thirds of those who worked more than 40 hours a week in Sydney were men.

Most Viewed in Business

Loading