IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wop/sprcdp/0064.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Challenge to Work and Welfare: Poverty in Australia in the 1990s

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Saunders

Abstract

This paper discusses issues associated with the measurement of poverty and how future trends in work and welfare will affect poverty in Australia, One of the main aims is to illustrate why and in what sense the measurement of poverty remains important in the broader policy debate. The role of budget standards in the development of poverty benchmarks is discussed, as are the limitations of the current method of updating the poverty line. Some possible ways of dealing with these are explored with the help of empirical data. The relationship between labour force status and poverty status is then explored using data from the latest (1990) household income survey. This is followed by a discussion of how income units at different points in the income distribution, and according to whether they are above or below the poverty line, evaluate their own perceived level of happiness and health status. Many of the differences revealed in the data are shown to vary significantly with the poverty status of the unit. Finally, the paper canvasses some of the issues associated with labour market changes and what these imply for future trends in poverty and income support policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Saunders, 1995. "A Challenge to Work and Welfare: Poverty in Australia in the 1990s," Discussion Papers 0064, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    • Handle: RePEc:wop:sprcdp:0064
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/dp/dp064.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Saunders, 1994. "The Role, Value and Limitations of Poverty Research," Discussion Papers 0053, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter Saunders, 1997. "Developing Policy Planning and Research Capabilities in the Asia Pacific," Discussion Papers 0078, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    2. Bruce Bradbury, 1996. "Are the Low Income Self-employed Poor?," Discussion Papers 0073, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    3. Peter Saunders, 1995. "Improving Work Incentives in a Means-Tested Welfare System: The 1994 Australian Social Security Reforms," Discussion Papers 0056, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    4. Peter Saunders, 1997. "Poverty, Choice and Legitimacy," Discussion Papers 0076, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    5. Peter Saunders, 1993. "Economic Adjustment and Distributional Change: Income Inequality and Poverty in Australia in the Eighties," Discussion Papers 0047, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    6. Marilyn McHugh & Jane Millar, 1996. "Sole Mothers in Australia: Supporting Mothers to Seek Work," Discussion Papers 0071, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    7. Tony Eardley & George Matheson, 1999. "Australian Attitudes to Unemployment and Unemployed People," Discussion Papers 00102, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    8. Bruce Bradbury, 1992. "The Welfare Interpretation of Family Size Equivalence Scales," Discussion Papers 0037, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    9. Hannu Uusitalo, 1996. "Economic Crisis and Social Policy in Finland in the 1990s," Discussion Papers 0070, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    10. Marilyn McHugh, 1999. "The Costs of Children: Budget Standards Estimates and the Child Support Scheme," Discussion Papers 00103, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    11. Peter Whiteford, 1995. "The use of replacement rates in international comparisons of benefit systems," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(2), pages 3-30, April.
    12. Michael Fine, 1999. "The Responsibility for Child and Aged Care: Shaping Policies for the Future," Discussion Papers 00105, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    13. Michael Bittman & George Matheson, 1996. "'All Else Confusion': What Do Time Surveys Show About Changes in Gender Equity," Discussion Papers 0072, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    14. Melanie Henwood, 1999. "Home and Away: Reflections on Long-term Care in the UK and Australia," Discussion Papers 00101, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    15. Peter Saunders, 1998. "Defining Poverty and Identifying the Poor: Reflections on the Australian Experience," Discussion Papers 0084, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    16. Michael Fine, 1995. "The Changing Mix of Welfare in Health Care and Community Support Services," Discussion Papers 0061, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    17. Bjorn Hallerod, 1994. "A New Approach to the Direct Measurement of Consensual Poverty," Discussion Papers 0050, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    18. Sheila Shaver, 1998. "Extension Admidst Retrenchment: Gender and Welfare State Restructuring in Australia and Sweden," Discussion Papers 0092, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    19. Sheila Shaver, 1996. "Liberalism, Gender and Social Policy," Discussion Papers 0068, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    20. Michael Bittman & Judy Wajcman, 1999. "The Rush Hour: The Quality of Leisure Time and Gender Equity," Discussion Papers 0097, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wop:sprcdp:0064. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Thomas Krichel (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/spnswau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.