Policies for work and family

Families Australia Policy Forum April 2016

Lyndall Strazdins ANU

Joining forces

Which families do we need policies for?

The most vulnerable

complex needs

excluded and marginalised

the ill and their carers

the poor

those trapped by violence

those without work

2

What about families with work?

? middle class welfare

? a policy free zone

• Intense policy interest

– childcare

– PPL

– working while older

– gender equality

– fertility

3

4

Health Children

Jobs

FamiliesPopulation

ageing

Globalisation

Equity

Fertility

Work & family: Three megatrends

—Population ageing and longevity

—More work and more work + care?

—Globalisation

—Pressure on jobs and business?

—Gender and social equity

—For better or for worse?

5

6

Jobs

FamiliesPopulation

ageing

Population ageing

7

Source: Australian Institute of Family Studies

1911

1951

2000

2051

Future solutions

• Encourage and

support more older

workers to stay

working.

• Encourage and

support more women,

especially mothers to

remain working, work

more.

8

Current questions

• How to help older

workers manage work

(and health, and for

some, elder care)?

• How to help mothers

and women manage

work (and care)?

10

Jobs

FamiliesPopulation

ageing

Globalisation

Australia’s global labour market

• Close to most populous

countries, entirely

different labour markets,

wages, social or

employment protection

• ‘Offshoring’ of jobs,

mostly manufacturing,

agricultural, some

technical and

professional

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China

Impact on Australian labour market

• Polarised, ‘hollowing out of

the middle’

• High skilled, well paid but

long hours are increasing

• Service and low skilled

work, low hour and low pay,

insecure, inflexible

• Pressures on profitability,

business stability

• Over and underemployed

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Impacts on income inequality

13

Source: OECD 2011 www.oecd.org/els/social/inequality

Inequality

Index

More

Unequal

More

Equal

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Health Children

Jobs

FamiliesPopulation

ageing

Globalisation

Equity

Fertility

Gender equality Australia

Australian women

• Are as skilled as men (Bachelor

Degree or above, 42% women, 31%

men; 25 - 29 years of age)

• Are less likely to be employed: (65%

women, 78% men)

• Earn less: 18% or $4.10 less per

hour same job, $700K less over a

lifetime

• Poorer as they age: Women’s super

balance $53K, Men’s $83K

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16

17

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The problem of time

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• 8 hour work day

banner 1860

• 8 hours for

– Work

– Rest

– Recreation

Care

Labour force participation men & women

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2011 2011

(globalising)

1966

(pre-globalisation)

It doesn’t go away: women’s time use by

type of care

• % women ‘often’ or ‘always’

rushed and pressed for

time.

• Error bars 95% confidence

intervals for total committed

time per week.

• ‘NILF’ refers to women not

in the labour force

• Part-time hours 1-34 hours

• Full-time hours 35 + hours a

week.

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Welsh & Strazdins (in preparation)

HILDA Wave 9 data

Time is also a problem for fathers

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25% Fathers often

work weekends

56% Miss out on

family events

20% Say family

time pressured and

less fun (because

of their jobs)

LSAC data, 2014

Time (as well as income) is also a

resource for children

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Income gradients: Families 6-7 year old children(Strazdins Shipley Leach & Butterworth., 2012)

Poor

Optimal

Children’s

mental

health

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Income gradients for all families vs. 2 earner

families, 6-7 year old children (Strazdins Shipley Leach &

Butterworth., 2012)

Optimal

Poor

Children’s

mental

health

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Work time & child mental health 6-7yrs (Strazdins, Shipley, Leach & Butterworth., 2012)

58

hrs 71

hrs

77

hrs

92

hrs

1.5 FTE 2.0 FTE

Optimal

Poor

Children’s

mental

health

Time to address time

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“Poverty is not just about a lack of money.

It’s about the absence of the resources the poor

need to realize their potential. Two critical ones are time and

energy.”

Bill and Melinda Gates 2016 annual letterhttps://www.gatesnotes.com/2016-Annual-

Letter?WT.mc_id=02_22_2016_00_AL2016_GL-GN_&WT.tsrc=GLGN

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Health Children

Jobs

FamiliesPopulation

ageing

Globalisation

Equity

Fertility

No needs Complex needs

Shifting the curve: Changes to target populations

Change in

social

conditions

If small changes

affect many →

large differences

in target groups

Rotary mental health grant

Huong Dinh, Amanda Cooklin, Liz Westrupp, Liana

Leach, Jan Nicholson

The Longitudinal Study of

Australian Children (LSAC)

Parents’ work-family conflict transitions

WFC status WFC transitions

Wave t Wave (t+1)

Low Low Never (Stable)

Low High Conscript (Changed - In)

High Low Escape (Changed – Out)

High High Persistent (Stable)

Data source: LSAC

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Longitudinal analyses of 5 waves of data (child ages 4-5 to 12-13

years) from employed mothers (n=2693) and fathers (n=3460)

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60%12%

14%

14%

Mother

Data source: LSAC

55%

15%

16%

14%

Father

Never

Conscript

Escape

Persistent

WFC transitions over five waves

WFC Transitions, Parent’s Mental Health

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0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Never Escape Conscript Persistent

GO

OD

---

-> B

AD

Me

nta

l he

alth

WFC transition

Mean K6, mothers Mean K6, fathers

Longitudinal findings (in preparation)

• Multi-wave random effects models, LSAC

data, predicting children’s mental health

(Strengths and Difficulties) 4 -13 years old

• Mothers, fathers work family conflict

transitions

• Lagged child mental health, socio-

demographic adjustments

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Mothers’ WFC Transitions and Child’s

Mental Health, adjusted

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Fathers’ WFC Transitions and Child’s

Mental Health, adjusted

Where to work and family….?

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38

Families

Family policy priorities

• Promoting

• Preventing

• Protecting

Partnering?

39

Jobs

Families

Could we try a work-family

partnership?

Families represented in all

major economic discussions

Align goals between business

and families

Recognise social and

economic interdependence

Policies for families without

work and

Policies for families with work

A family-friendly economy?

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Jobs

Families

Utopian thinking!

– It will be difficult.

– Won’t be over night.

– Could be resistance

– But…we want more people

to work and care

– And….what happens if they don’t?

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Japan’s aging

population

1950-2055Source: National Institute

of Population and Social

Security Research

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Australia Japan

2 3 4 5

45

2218

0

21

11 10

38

94

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Women’s participation 2014

Fertility rate 2011

70% 63%

1.88 1.24

43

Australia Finland

2 2 3

33

44

5 6 36 69

56

17

2 2 10

10

20

30

40

50

60

Women’s participation 2014

Fertility rate 2011

70% 73%

1.88 1.83

T H A N K Y O U V E R Y M U C H

W e a p p l a u d F a m i l i e s A u s t r a l i a f o r e m b a r k i n g

o n t h i s e x c i t i n g p o l i c y c o n v e r s a t i o n

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS—The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

(LSAC) : a partnership between the Department

of Social Services (DSS), the Australian Institute

of Family Studies (AIFS), the Australian Bureau

of Statistics (ABS) and Australian academics.

• ARC Linkage LP100100106

• ARC Future Fellowship FT110100686

• Rotary mental health grant

All views expressed are the speaker’s

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