The School holiday effect: Consistant January drop in Female Part Time Work

Just been looking at one of my favourite ABS releases, the detailed Labour force stats...a veritable treasure trove of info on Australian work habits and demographics.

One thing I have been looking at is Part Time workers between 15-64. I notice a very strong seasonal signal in the Female Part time stats as a percentage of the civilan population. In January of most years, it appears there is a drop of around 1.5-2% consistantly. See the graph below

The same signal is not as apparent in Male Part time work (or if it is, it is too small to be detectable)

So what would make women drop part time work so consistently over January?

It's either school kids or the beach in my opinion.