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New minimum healthy living budget standards for low-paid and unemployed Australians

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Saunders
  • Megan Bedford

Abstract

A budget standard indicates how much a particular family living in a particular place at a particular time needs in order to achieve a particular standard of living. This article presents new estimates that build on the earlier budget standards produced by the Social Policy Research Centre in the 1990s. The new budgets incorporate increases in consumer prices and community standards and reflect changes in item availability, retail practices and shopping behaviour, as well as improved research methods, 20 years of use and experience, and new data. They are designed to achieve a minimum income for healthy living standard and apply to families with a breadwinner who is either in full-time work and receiving the minimum wage, or unemployed and receiving Newstart Allowance. The estimates suggest that although the minimum wage is adequate for single people, it is not adequate to meet the needs of many couple families with and without children, while Newstart Allowance does not provide an adequate safety net for the unemployed, whatever their family status.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Saunders & Megan Bedford, 2018. "New minimum healthy living budget standards for low-paid and unemployed Australians," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 29(3), pages 273-288, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:29:y:2018:i:3:p:273-288
    DOI: 10.1177/1035304618781149
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rebecca Cassells & Alfred Michael Dockery & Alan S Duncan, 2014. "Falling through the cracks: poverty and disadvantage in Australia," Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Report series FS01, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jeromey B. Temple, 2018. "The Association between Stressful Events and Food Insecurity: Cross-Sectional Evidence from Australia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-15, October.
    2. Leisa McCarthy & Anne B. Chang & Julie Brimblecombe, 2018. "Food Security Experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families with Young Children in An Urban Setting: Influencing Factors and Coping Strategies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Christina M. Pollard & Sue Booth & Jonathan Louth & Catherine Mackenzie & Ian Goodwin‐Smith, 2020. "“I'd be sleeping in the park, I reckon”: Lived Experience of Using Financial Counselling Services in South Australia," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 39(4), pages 353-366, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Budget standards; family needs; healthy living; low-paid; unemployed;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General

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