Work characteristics of nurses and midwives

Area of nursing and midwifery

Respondents to the workforce survey are asked to indicate their 'principal area of main job', which relates to the type of work that they do. The area that had the greatest supply of nurses and midwives was aged care (159 FTE per 100,000 population).

Figure 1: Employed nurses and midwives in Australia: principal area of main job, FTE rate, 2015

Horizontal bar chart showing principal area of main job in nursing on the y axis; FTE per 100,000 population (0 to 160) on the x axis.

Notes

  1. 5,090 out of 23,801 respondents stated that they worked identical nursing and midwifery hours. This indicates that a significant number of respondents who filled in the combined nursing and midwifery form may have misinterpreted the wording of the 'hours' questions. Consequently, the FTE rate for maternity care is likely to be overstated.
  2. 'Completed midwife survey' refers to those midwives who completed a midwife survey form instead of a nurse survey form. The midwife survey consists of different categories of 'principal area of main job', and their responses have been grouped together here. For midwife survey categories of 'principal area of main job', please refer to Focus on midwives.
  3. Full-time equivalent (FTE) per 100,000 population. FTE is based on total weekly hours worked.

Source: AIHW NHWDS.

Nurses and midwives working in child and family health had the highest average age (49.9 years). Nurses and midwives working in emergency had the lowest average, at 39.4 years. The highest proportion of male nurses was in the area of mental health, where men comprised 30.9% of the workforce.

Working hours

On average, employed nurses and midwives worked 33.5 hours per week in 2015.

Almost half (149,867 or 48.8%) worked less than 35 hours per week.

Across the jurisdictions, there was some variation in average weekly hours worked by nurses and midwives. Nurses and midwives in the Northern Territory worked the most weekly hours on average (38.4 hours), followed by those working in the Australian Capital Territory (35.0 hours). Nurses and midwives in South Australia reported working the least weekly hours on average (31.8).

Nurses and midwives in Very remote areas worked the greatest number of hours, 40.1 hours per week compared with the national average of 33.5. Nurses and midwives in Inner regional areas reported working the least hours (32.5). This was consistent with reported working hours in 2014.

Type of work setting

In 2015, the work setting of employed nurses and midwives with the highest FTE rate was hospitals (excluding outpatient services) (673 FTE per 100,000 population).

Figure 2: Employed nurses and midwives: work setting of main job, FTE rate, 2015

Horizontal bar chart showing work setting of main job on the y axis; FTE per 100,000 population (0 to 800) on the x axis

Notes

  1. 'Completed midwife survey' refers to those midwives who completed a midwife survey form instead of a nurse survey form. The midwife survey consists of different categories of 'principal area of main job', and their responses have been grouped together here. For midwife survey categories of 'principal area of main job', please refer to Focus on midwives.
  2. Full-time equivalent (FTE) per 100,000 population. FTE is based on total weekly hours worked.

Source: AIHW NHWDS.

Employment sector

In 2015, the total number of nurses and midwives who reported working some hours in the private sector was 113,732. The total number of nurses and midwives who reported working some hours in the public sector was 182,268.

The number of registered nurses working in the public sector was 77% higher than that of the private sector (156,528 compared to 88,675). This was also seen with midwives, with nearly triple the number reporting working in the public sector compared to the private sector (20,011 compared to 7,462).

Among enrolled nurses the difference in number between sectors in 2015 was 683 (25,740 in the public sector compared to 25,057 in the private sector).

Table 1: Employed nurses and midwives(a): employment sector of main job, 2015
Nursing & midwifery category Some clinical hours in private sector Some clinical hours in public sector Some clinical hours in both sectors Non-clinical hours only Total
Registered nurses(b) 88,675 156,528 8,068 18,899 256,034
  Registered midwives(c) 7,462 20,011 1,549 2,287 28,211
Enrolled nurses 25,057 25,740 1,239 1,512 51,070
Total nurses and midwives 113,732 182,268 9,307 20,411 307,104
  1. 'Employed’ is defined as working any hours in either nursing or midwifery in the week before the survey.
  2. Data for registered nurses also include people with dual registrations and those who were registered as a ‘midwife only’.
  3. Employed registered midwives who worked any hours as either a midwife or a nurse.

Source: AIHW NHWDS.