Current Issues Brief no.4 2003-04
Labour Force Status of Families: Electorate Rankings
Tony Kryger
Statistics Group
1 December 2003
Contents
Introduction
Main Features
Couple families with children aged
under 15 years
1 Couple families in which
both spouses are employed
2 Couple families in which
neither spouse is employed
3 Unemployed couple
families
Single parent families with children
aged under 15 years
4 Single parent families in
which the parent is not employed
5 Unemployed single parent
families
Children aged under 15
years
6 Children living in
families in which no parent is employed
7 Children living in
families in which one parent is unemployed and the other parent (if
present) is either unemployed or not in the labour force
Unemployed Women
8 Unemployed women with no
children aged under 15 years
9 Unemployed women with
children aged under 15 years
10 Unemployed wives with
unemployed husbands
11 Unemployed wives with
employed husbands
This paper provides an analysis by
Commonwealth Electoral Division of certain labour force
characteristics of families from the 2001 Census of Population and
Housing. The paper seeks to measure the extent of labour market
disadvantage experienced by families by providing a basis on which
to make comparisons between electorates.
Data for each labour force characteristic has
been presented in two tables. The first table lists each electoral
division alphabetically and shows the value of the characteristic.
The second table ranks each electoral division on the relative
value of the characteristic, usually expressed as a percentage of
total.
While it is the case that electorates ranked
poorly on one characteristic tend also to be ranked poorly on other
characteristics, this is not always the case. For example, a high
unemployment rate for couple families is not always associated with
a high unemployment rate for single parent families. Similarly, a
high unemployment rate for women with children doesnt always
correspond to a high unemployment rate for women without children.
By comparing electorate rankings across a range of different
characteristics, it is therefore possible to gain a better
perspective on the degree and type of labour market disadvantage
experienced in each electorate.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines a
family as 'two or more persons, one of whom is at least 15 years of
age, who are related by blood, marriage (registered or de facto),
adoption, step or fostering; and who are usually resident in the
same household. The basis of a family is formed by identifying the
presence of a couple relationship, lone parent-child relationship
or other blood relationship.' In this paper, only family types that
satisfy the first two descriptions are considered. Insufficient
information is available on the other family type to allow an
analysis of its labour force characteristics. There is also
insufficient information on the labour force status of same sex
couples which are excluded here from the definition of couple
families.
The electoral boundaries used in the paper are
those applicable at the 2001 Federal Election. The political party
holding each division is that applicable as at 1 January 2003.
Some of the more interesting features of each
table are summarised below.
Table 1Couple families with children aged under
15 years in which both spouses are employed
Ranked on the number of couple families with
children in which both the husband and wife are employed, expressed
as a proportion of all couple families with children.
The electorate with the highest proportion of
both husbands and wives who are employed is Canberra (ACT) (68.2
per cent), followed by Mackellar (NSW) (67.7 per cent), Cook (NSW)
(67.2 per cent) and Mitchell (NSW) (66.8 per cent). Fowler (NSW)
has the lowest proportion (33.8 per cent) and is significantly
behind the next lowest electorate of Reid (NSW) (37.3 per
cent).
The Australian average is 56.5 per cent.
Table 2Couple families with children aged under
15 years in which neither spouse is employed
Ranked on the number of couple families with
children in which neither the husband nor the wife is employed,
expressed as a proportion of all couple families with children.
The electorate with the highest proportion of
cases in which neither the husband nor wife is employed is Fowler
(NSW) at 25.8 per cent. High proportions were also recorded in the
electorates of Lingiari (NT) (21.9 per cent), Reid (NSW) (21.7 per
cent) and Blaxland (NSW) (20.0 per cent). At the other end of the
rankings scale, the electorate with the lowest proportion is
Mackellar (NSW) at 2.5 per cent.
The Australian average is 8.5 per cent.
Table 3Unemployed couple families with children
aged under 15 years
An unemployed couple family is one in which
one spouse is unemployed and the other spouse is either unemployed
or not in the labour force. The unemployment rate for a couple
family with children is defined as the number of unemployed couple
families with children, expressed as a proportion of the total
number of couple families with children in which at least one
spouse is in the labour force.
The unemployment rate for couple families with
children ranges from one per cent or less in Mackellar (NSW),
Hughes (NSW), Mitchell (NSW) and Cook (NSW) to 8.8 per cent in
Cowper (NSW), 8.9 per cent in Reid (NSW) and rising abruptly to
11.4 per cent in Fowler (NSW).
The Australian average is 3.6 per cent.
Table 4Single parent families with children aged
under 15 years in which the parent is not employed
Ranked on the number of not employed single
parents with children, expressed as a proportion of all single
parents with children.
There are 103 (out of 150) electorates in
which more than half the single parents with children in the
electorate are not employed. The proportion is lowest in Mackellar
(NSW) (29.3 per cent), North Sydney (NSW) (31.4 per cent) and
Kooyong (Vic) (31.9 per cent) and highest in Fowler (NSW) (76.0 per
cent), Bonython (SA) (69.2 per cent) and Chifley (NSW) (68.2 per
cent).
The Australian average is 54.6 per cent.
Table 5Unemployed single parent families with
children aged under 15 years
Ranked on the unemployment rate for a single
parent family with children, defined as the number of unemployed
single parents with children, expressed as a proportion of the
total number of single parents in the labour force with
children.
In 32 electorates out of a total of 150, the
unemployment rate for single parent families with children is above
20 per cent. The unemployment rate is highest in Fowler (NSW) (27.8
per cent), followed by Longman (Qld) (25.7 per cent) and Braddon
(Tas) (25.1 per cent). It is lowest in Bradfield (NSW) (5.7 per
cent).
The Australian average is 16.5 per cent.
Table 6Children aged under 15 years living in
families in which no parent is employed
Ranked on the number of children living in
families (couple or single parent) in which no parent is employed,
expressed as a proportion of the total number of children aged
under 15 years.
There are (as at the 2001 Census) 761 087
children under the age of 15 years living in families in which no
parent has a job. The electorate with the highest proportion of
children in this situation is Fowler (NSW) (40.3 per cent) followed
by Bonython (SA) (33.0 per cent) and Reid (NSW) (32.2 per cent).
There are 18 electorates in which the proportion falls below 10 per
cent; the lowest ranking electorate is Mitchell (NSW) (5.4 per
cent).
The Australian average is 18.5 per cent.
Table 7Children aged under 15 years living in
families in which one parent is unemployed and the other parent (if
present) is either unemployed or not in the labour force
Ranked on the number of children living in
families (couple or single parent) in which one parent is
unemployed and the other parent is either unemployed or not in the
labour force, expressed as a proportion of the total number of
children aged under 15 years.
A total of 188 380 children aged under 15
years are living in families where no parent is working but at
least one parent wants a job. In the electorate of Fowler (NSW),
almost one child in every ten is living in this type of family
situation. Close behind is the electorate of Cowper (NSW) (9.3 per
cent) followed by Fairfax (Qld) (8.2 per cent). The lowest ranking
electorate is Mitchell (NSW) where the corresponding proportion is
just 1.3 per cent.
The Australian average is 4.6 per cent.
Table 8Unemployed women with no children aged
under 15 years
For women with no children aged under 15
years, the unemployment rate is defined as the number of unemployed
women in the group expressed as a proportion of the number of women
in the labour force in the same group.
The unemployment rate for women with no
children ranges from less than two per cent in Hughes (NSW),
Mitchell (NSW) and Mackellar (NSW) to a high of 13.7 per cent in
Fowler (NSW). The rate for Fowler is significantly higher than for
any other electorate, the next highest ranking electorates being
Cowper (NSW) at 8.1 per cent and Reid (NSW) at 7.6 per cent.
The Australian average is 3.9 per cent.
Table 9Unemployed women with children aged under
15 years
For women with children aged under 15 years,
the unemployment rate is defined as the number of unemployed women
in the group expressed as a proportion of the number of women in
the labour force in the same group.
The unemployment rate for women with children
ranges from 2.8 per cent in Bradfield (NSW) to 17.5 per cent in
Fowler (NSW). In every electorate, the unemployment rate for women
with children is higher than it is for women without children. The
average rate difference is 2.7 percentage points but is much larger
than this in electorates where the unemployment rate for women with
children is already quite high. For example, in electorates such as
Longman (Qld), Rankin (Qld) and Bonython (SA), the rate difference
is more than five percentage points.
The Australian average rate of unemployment
for women with children is 6.7 per cent
Table 10Unemployed women with an unemployed
husband
For women with an unemployed husband, the
unemployment rate is defined as the number of unemployed women in
the group expressed as a proportion of the number of women in the
labour force in the same group.
In the electorate of Fowler (NSW), the
unemployment rate for women with an unemployed husband is almost 68
per cent. Five other electorates with an unemployment rate of over
50 per cent are Prospect (NSW) (50.2 per cent), Mallee (Vic) (50.7
per cent), Bonython (SA) (52.2 per cent), Maribyrnong (Vic) (56.0
per cent) and Gellibrand (Vic) (59.6 per cent).
The significance of this table (and Table 11
below) is that it highlights the tendency for unemployment to be
entrenched in certain family types. Hence, a woman is far more
likely to be unemployed if her husband also is unemployed than if
her husband is in a job.
The Australian average rate of unemployment
for women with an unemployed husband is 36.0 per cent.
Table 11Unemployed women with an employed
husband
For women with an employed husband, the
unemployment rate is defined as the number of unemployed women in
the group expressed as a proportion of the number of women in the
labour force in the same group.
The unemployment rate for women with an
employed husband is a fraction of the corresponding rate for women
with an unemployed husband. The highest rate is 7.2 per cent in the
electorate of Fowler (NSW) followed by Reid (NSW) at 5.2 per cent.
In every other electorate the rate is below 5 per cent and in over
two-thirds of all electorates it is below 3 per cent.
The Australian average is 2.6 per cent.
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