CANBERRA, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Australians are working shorter weeks than they were in 2011, data released on Monday showed.
Statistics from the 2016 Australian Census, published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), revealed that the average paid working week for Australians at the time of the census was 34.6 hours, down from 35.1 hours at the last census in 2011.
The rate of Australians working "extreme" hours also fell with 25.7 percent of respondents saying they worked more than 41 hours per week on average compared to 28.8 percent in 2011.
Professionals were the largest occupation category in Australia, accounting for 21 percent of the workforce.
Bindi Kindermann, census program manager, said that female involvement in the workforce had grown from 34 percent of those aged 15 and up in 1966 to 56 percent in 2016.
Simultaneously, male involvement in the workforce declined from 84 percent of the same age group in 1966 to 65 percent in 2016.
Kindermann said that jobs in the service industry were showing the highest rate of growth.
"Comparing stats from 2016 to that from 2011 (shows) a 27 percent increase in fitness instructors, a 25 percent rise in the number or beauty therapists and a 23 percent increase in bar attendants and baristas," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
People in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's two largest cities, were the most unlikely to drive to work, the census found, with more people in those cities opting to walk, ride a bicycle or take public transport.
"People in Sydney are the most likely of all the capital cities to take public transport to work, with 21 percent using this option compared to a proportion of 13 percent for the next placed capital, Melbourne." Kindermann said.
Management and commerce, engineering, society and culture were the three most common fields of study, accounting for 1.7 million Australians in 2016, the ABS found.
