Australian economy

Home ownership has fallen, but child poverty is the lowest it’s been in 16 years, the Hilda survey shows

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House for rent
The transition from renting to home ownership is becoming less common in Australia. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

Household disposable income has stagnated since 2009, rates of home ownership among young adults have fallen in recent years, and “housing stress” among renters has risen.
But the nationwide poverty rate has declined since 2001, and the child poverty rate is now the lowest it has been in 16 years.
Those are some of the key findings of the latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (Hilda) survey, released on Tuesday, which provides a detailed picture of the wellbeing of Australian households.
By interviewing the same households and individuals every year since 2001, the Hilda survey allows policymakers to see how the wellbeing of specific households has changed over time.
The longitudinal data reveals “dynamics” – family, health, income and labour dynamics – rather than statics. It offers information about persistence and recurrence of poverty, unemployment and welfare reliance.
The data can illuminate the antecedents and consequences of poverty, unemployment, marital breakdown and poor health, by showing the paths that individuals’ lives have taken.
This report presents data from interviews conducted between 2001 and 2016.
On a macro-level, the Hilda report shows household disposable income has stagnated for Australians since 2009, after rising strongly between 2001 and 2009.
Between 2009 and 2016, the mean household disposable income grew by just $2,168, or 2.4%, while the median household disposable income barely moved ($79,160 in 2009, compared to $79,244 in 2016).
“Income mobility” refers to the ability of individuals or families to improve (or worsen) their economic status by changes in their income. If household income is relatively immobile, and the same households are ranked as high-income and low-income from one year to the next, it suggests inequality between households is persistent.
The Hilda survey shows income mobility has worsened slightly since the turn of the century.
“While the increase in income stability from year to year is a positive development for people with good incomes, this is not a good development for people with low incomes, since they are more likely to have persistently low incomes,” the report says.
However, the report shows household expenditure on home energy has been decreasing in recent years.
It says one potentially important source of economic hardship is the cost of home energy, and home energy expenditure peaked as a share of household income in 2011 and 2012, when it accounted for 3.1% of income. It has since fallen to 2.8% of income.

Renters

More people are renting, with the share of people living in private rental accommodation increasing to 28% in 2016, up from 23% in 2001.
People aged 25 to 34 are the most likely to rent, while those aged 55-plus are the least likely to rent.
There has been a slight decline in renting among 15 to 24-year-olds, to 34.5% from 36.6%, driven by the trend to remain longer in the parental home.
And the transition from renting to home-ownership is becoming less common, particularly among younger age groups. Between 2013 and 2016, an average of 7.6% of renters between the ages of 18 to 24 moved into home-ownership each year, compared with 13.5% between 2001 and 2004.

Childcare

The use of paid childcare is increasing.
Around half of parents with children under the age of five – 49.1% of couple parents, 50.4% of single parents – now use some form of paid childcare. This is up from approximately 44% in 2013-14.
The use of work-related childcare is on the rise. Between 2002 and 2016, it has increased from 71% to 86% for parents in a couple, and from 57% to 63% for single parents.
Hourly rates and time spent in care is increasing. Median weekly expenditure on childcare has risen in real terms between 2002-03 and 2015-16, by 119% for parents in a couple (from $71 to $154), and by 133% for single-parent families (from $44 to $102).

Gender roles and work

Australians (aged 15-64) are becoming increasingly open to non-traditional gender arrangements of parenting and paid work.
However, despite these more progressive views, men spend more time (35.9 hours) on employment than women (24.9 hours per week in 2016), while women spend more time on housework (20.4 hours, compared to men’s 13.3 hours) and care (11.3 hours, compared to men’s 5.4 hours).
Men have increased their share of time spent on housework (1 extra
hour per week) and care (0.6 hours per week) since 2002.
However, when children arrive, the traditional gendered division of labour in couples becomes more apparent: among married couples with children, women do only 29% of the paid work but 65% of the housework and 63% of the care.