tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/sole-parents-4096/articlesSole parents – The Conversation2021-05-04T19:11:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1602472021-05-04T19:11:13Z2021-05-04T19:11:13ZIf New Zealand can radically reform its health system, why not do the same for welfare?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398512/original/file-20210504-13-usjxqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C2%2C1668%2C1065&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The government’s recently announced <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/major-reforms-will-make-healthcare-accessible-all-nzers">health sector reforms</a> go well beyond what its <a href="https://systemreview.health.govt.nz/about/expert-review-panel/">expert health review</a> had recommended. This was rightly welcomed by many in the sector, but it does raise the question: if radical change can be made in health, why not the same for welfare?</p>
<p>For years now, benefit recipients, welfare advocates and their allies have been calling for a significant increase in core benefit levels to provide a liveable income. </p>
<p>They have also called for major changes in how Work and Income (WINZ) deals with people with chronic illness and disability and those in relationships; how it treats benefit recipients seeking assistance; and how it makes decisions about discretionary hardship and supplementary assistance. </p>
<p>Back in 2019, the Welfare Expert Advisory Group’s <a href="http://www.weag.govt.nz/weag-report/">analysis</a> stressed that immediate and significant reform in all of these areas was long overdue. It made 42 key recommendations but only a handful have been addressed. Almost two years on, we are still waiting for real action.</p>
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<h2>Life on a benefit ‘soul destroying’</h2>
<p>My <a href="https://www.cpag.org.nz/assets/Covid-19%2520INTERVIEW%2520report%2520FINAL%252012%2520April%25202021.docx%2520%25281%2529.pdf">recent research</a> involving benefit recipients’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic suggests this delay is causing real hardship and emotional stress for those relying on core benefits to survive. </p>
<p>Only some of those interviewed had received the full <a href="https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/about-work-and-income/news/2020/1-april-payments.html">$25 per week increase</a> provided in April 2020, due to reduced <a href="https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/a-z-benefits/temporary-additional-support.html">Temporary Additional Support</a> payments or increased public housing rents. This year’s <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/benefit-settings-rise-line-wages-1-april">indexation</a> of benefits to wages was welcome but inadequate to meet significant shortfalls in weekly income. </p>
<p>They have described their lives as “soul destroying” and a “daily grind”, resulting in feelings of hopelessness, despair and the impression they did not belong to the “team of five million”.</p>
<p>During the national lockdown, for example, already inadequate food budgets were made to stretch even further as shoppers hoarded staples, cheaper options flew off the shelves, and people with disabilities or sole parents who were not allowed to take their children shopping had to pay delivery charges.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-is-predicted-to-make-child-poverty-worse-should-nzs-next-government-make-temporary-safety-nets-permanent-147177">COVID-19 is predicted to make child poverty worse. Should NZ's next government make temporary safety nets permanent?</a>
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<h2>Dangers of a two-tier welfare system</h2>
<p>In response to increasing pressure to act on social security, the government has suggested it might establish a two-tier <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/122356643/do-new-zealand-workers-need-an-national-income-insurance-scheme">unemployment insurance scheme</a>. Workers would contribute directly to an unemployment insurance fund that would pay a significant proportion (possibly up to 80%) of their previous wages if they become unemployed.</p>
<p>But this would simply mean those who have been recently employed will be better off than those who have not.</p>
<p>The same principle underpinned the government’s <a href="https://workandincome.govt.nz/covid-19/income-relief-payment/index.html">Income Relief Payment</a> for those who lost their jobs due to COVID-19. This benefit was paid at a higher rate and with easier eligibility conditions than the standard <a href="https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/products/a-z-benefits/jobseeker-support.html">Jobseeker Support</a>.</p>
<p>Unemployment insurance is common in some countries, so there is considerable international evidence indicating it creates a two-tier system: those already well off due to high wages continue to be privileged by receiving higher unemployment benefits than those on lower wages when they become unemployed.</p>
<p>At least, they are better off for one or two years, before they are relegated to the safety net system that sole parents, people with disabilities or chronic illness, refugees, migrants and others with weak attachment to the labour market are forced to rely on. </p>
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<img alt="Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni speaking" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398514/original/file-20210504-17-1mhl4zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398514/original/file-20210504-17-1mhl4zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398514/original/file-20210504-17-1mhl4zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398514/original/file-20210504-17-1mhl4zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398514/original/file-20210504-17-1mhl4zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398514/original/file-20210504-17-1mhl4zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398514/original/file-20210504-17-1mhl4zn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni: will she get more to spend in the May 20 Budget?</span>
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<h2>Privileging the already privileged</h2>
<p>Such systems usually offer very low core benefits and increase social stigma by suggesting these groups are not as “deserving” as those more recently unemployed.</p>
<p>Indeed, one of my research participants described how the temporary Income Relief Payment came as a “kick in the gut” and was a significant blow to their mental health for precisely this reason. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-authority-could-transform-maori-health-but-only-if-its-a-leader-not-a-partner-159425">New authority could transform Māori health, but only if it's a leader, not a partner</a>
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<p>A permanent form of unemployment insurance would send the message that we care more about shoring up the middle class, who already own homes and have retirement investments, than ensuring sick and disabled people or sole parents have enough to eat and a healthy home to live in.</p>
<p>Introducing an unemployment insurance system wouldn’t improve the living standards and emotional well-being of the sole parents and those living with disabilities or chronic illness who took part in my research.</p>
<h2>Liveable incomes for all</h2>
<p>Nor would it improve the “<a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/end-work-and-incomes-toxic-culture-beneficiaries/2ZKUTE7YXCA43YTIA3JWKVTDZQ/">toxic culture</a>” of WINZ or address many of the other problems highlighted by the Welfare Expert Working Group and various research studies. </p>
<p>Rather, it will reinforce existing inequalities, likely increase child poverty rates, and take up public service time and resources that could be better spent improving the current welfare system.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/children-had-no-say-in-new-zealands-well-being-budget-and-that-matters-118113">Children had no say in New Zealand's well-being budget, and that matters</a>
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<p>The radical reform we need is a system that provides a liveable income for all when we are unable to support ourselves, as is often inevitable at some stage in our lives.</p>
<p>This system would treat benefit recipients with dignity and respect, no matter what their circumstances or prior history, value the contributions sole parents make to society by bringing up our <a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&histLoanWords=&keywords=tamariki">tamariki</a>, and recognise the particular needs and strengths of people living with disability or illness.</p>
<p>This is the kind of welfare overhaul I hope is announced in the 2021 Budget.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160247/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Humpage is affiliated with the Child Poverty Action Group.</span></em></p>Life on social welfare can feel ‘soul destroying’. The May 20 Budget could start to fix that — but an unemployment insurance scheme isn’t the right solution.Louise Humpage, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1451622020-10-06T12:17:21Z2020-10-06T12:17:21ZStudent housing is scarce for college students who have kids<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361243/original/file-20201002-24-10iaxia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C10%2C6699%2C4456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A stable residence on campus can help college students who are parents complete their degrees.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/tween-son-poses-with-mom-after-her-college-royalty-free-image/859125794?adppopup=true">SDI Productions/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Before the family housing program opened at his university, Blake and his two young daughters were couch-surfing at the homes of their friends and family.</p>
<p>“They only saw me coming and going,” Blake explains, describing how he had to juggle a job at a local casino, college classes and parenting as a single homeless dad pursuing a career in nursing.</p>
<p>When the university opened its family housing program in 2014, Blake and his daughters were among the first to move in. Living on campus changed their lives. The girls claimed a place within the college community. They made friends with people across campus, ate with their dad in the dining hall and did homework together as a family. And Blake was able to better focus on his studies.</p>
<p>The program – which has since been discontinued – is a rarity in higher education.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://www.wcwonline.org/Family-Housing/family-housing-project-database">Campus Family Housing Database</a> that <a href="https://www.wcwonline.org/Videos-by-WCW-Scholars-and-Trainers/on-campus-with-kids-supporting-student-parents-in-higher-education">I created with my colleague, Sarah Galison</a>, just 8% of all U.S. colleges and universities offer on-campus housing for college students who are parents. This does not take into consideration whether the housing is affordable, or the number, size or availability of family housing units. Furthermore, we found that 28 institutions closed their family housing programs between 2014 and 2019, many without announcement.</p>
<p>This scarcity of student housing poses a serious dilemma for the <a href="https://iwpr.org/iwpr-issues/student-parent-success-initiative/parents-in-college-by-the-numbers/">nearly 4 million undergraduate college students</a> in the United States – or more than one out of every five – who are parents.</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Kvo86ngAAAAJ&hl=en">sociologist</a> with expertise in housing issues for student parents. I worked with the program that helped Blake and his daughters as part of an effort to replicate a national program that promoted comprehensive support for single parents. That comprehensive support included safe and affordable housing. My job was to serve as a consultant, provide technical assistance and evaluate the program from 2013 through 2017.</p>
<p>Eventually the college created an on-campus resource center for these students and phased out on-campus family housing. This approach was less expensive and able to serve more of the college’s student parents. While I understood the need for this approach in order to sustain services for single parents at the college, I continued to stress the importance of safe and affordable housing within the college community.</p>
<p>I worried about the fate of students like Blake who need housing to succeed in school.</p>
<h2>A serious dilemma</h2>
<p>College students who are parents are <a href="https://iwpr.org/iwpr-issues/student-parent-success-initiative/parents-in-college-by-the-numbers/">disproportionately low-income and students of color</a>. In addition, <a href="https://iwpr.org/iwpr-issues/student-parent-success-initiative/college-students-with-children-are-common-and-face-many-challenges-in-completing-higher-education-summary/">one in three</a> students who are the first in their family to go to college are parents.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://hope4college.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/HOPE_realcollege_National_report_digital.pdf">Temple University Hope Center</a>, 66% of student parents experience housing insecurity during college, and an additional 16% experience homelessness. When basic needs such as housing, food and safety are not met for these families, it becomes harder for them to focus on school and graduate. When family housing is provided, it creates a sense of inclusion, community and belonging for student parents and their families, who often feel <a href="http://supportgenerationhope.org/student-parents-report">unseen and excluded from campus life</a>.</p>
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<img alt="A mother holds a young baby while writing in a book at a table on a college campus." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361245/original/file-20201002-24-1xdx3cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361245/original/file-20201002-24-1xdx3cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361245/original/file-20201002-24-1xdx3cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361245/original/file-20201002-24-1xdx3cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361245/original/file-20201002-24-1xdx3cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361245/original/file-20201002-24-1xdx3cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/361245/original/file-20201002-24-1xdx3cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">College students with children may feel isolated and invisible on campus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-single-mom-studying-for-college-exam-while-royalty-free-image/1210394632?adppopup=true">Dianne Avery Photography / Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>While programs that offer family housing for student parents exist, information about these programs can be difficult to find. That’s what led us to create the <a href="https://www.wcwonline.org/Family-Housing/family-housing-project-database">Campus Family Housing Database</a>. </p>
<p>To the best of my knowledge, the database is the first online tool that identifies which colleges and universities offer housing to college students who are parents. Galison and I collected data on every regionally accredited U.S. college and university. The database is current as of spring 2019, and we are working to update it for 2021.</p>
<p>Lack of campus housing for students who are parents is not just a housing issue. It’s an education issue. When student parents are able to be part of campus life and to spend time with their children, <a href="https://www.endicott.edu/-/media/endicott/home/about/research-at-endicott/perg/perg-report-full-rev-6-13-17-web.ashx?la=en&hash=4D8957A9BDC7DB2F6A6F70049F080A32484F6DEF">they are more likely to complete their degrees</a>.</p>
<h2>Building a community</h2>
<p>Some colleges have had on-campus housing programs for student parents <a href="https://time.com/3915231/studcnt-veterans/">since just after World War II.</a></p>
<p>One of them is the <a href="https://apartments.uoregon.edu/">University of Oregon</a>, which I attended as a young undergraduate student – and a parent with two kids. Living on campus and enrolling my children in the college’s child care center, I had only to walk across the parking lot to drop off and pick up my kids each day, before riding my bicycle to class.</p>
<p>I connected with other sociology major moms who lived in the family housing community. We held study groups in the living rooms of each other’s on-campus apartments while our kids played together in the next room. I always knew my rent and utility bills were paid, because they were deducted from my financial aid each term.</p>
<p>I graduated with honors, magna cum laude and an acceptance letter to graduate school.</p>
<h2>Paying attention</h2>
<p>Now that university budgets are becoming tight due to COVID-19, I worry that student parents won’t be seen as a priority, if they are seen at all. Many universities don’t even track the number of their students who are parents, leaving them unaware of whether those students’ needs are being met. Advocates of student housing for parents say that must change.</p>
<p>“Deliberately collecting student parent data is the only way colleges and universities can accurately quantify their student parents each term,” said <a href="http://www.communitycenterforteachingexcellence.org/dr-mary-ann-matta-demario/">Mary Ann DeMario</a>, institutional research specialist at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York and lead on the <a href="https://eddesignlab.org/project/singlemomssuccess/">Single Mothers Success Design Challenge</a>, which focuses on helping single mother students get through school, in an email exchange for this article. “Moreover, it allows institutions to uncover the types of student parents they have.” </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>DeMario collects data on the number and age of the children of student parents at her institution. This can be important for assessing need for services such as family housing and childcare on-campus. Nationally, most student parents have <a href="https://iwpr.org/iwpr-issues/student-parent-success-initiative/parents-in-college-by-the-numbers/">1 to 2 children, and 53% have a child under age 6</a>.</p>
<p>When students who have kids succeed, society benefits. College graduates <a href="https://iwpr.org/iwpr-publications/report/resilient-and-reaching-for-more-challenges-and-benefits-of-higher-education-for-welfare-participants-and-their-children/">embark on careers that are meaningful to them</a>, <a href="https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/R600_Investing-in-Single-Moms-National.pdf">earn higher wages that make them less likely to live in poverty</a> and are <a href="https://www.luminafoundation.org/resource/its-not-just-the-money/">more likely to volunteer and contribute in their communities</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145162/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Autumn Green currently receives funding from the Jacob Bluestein Foundation. The research informing this article was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the Keys to Degrees Program at Endicott College, and Wellesley College. She volunteers as a national adviser with Ascend at the Aspen Institute's Postsecondary Success for Parents Initiative and the Institute for Women's Policy Research's Student Parent Policy Working Group, and is a member of the Oregon Student Parent Success Coalition.</span></em></p>More than 1 in 5 college students are parents, and many struggle to find on-campus housing. Colleges offering a stable place to live on campus can help them succeed.Autumn Green, Research Scientist Studying Higher Education Access for Student Parents, Wellesley CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1256412019-12-23T20:18:41Z2019-12-23T20:18:41ZHow to support children whose parent works away for long periods<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305582/original/file-20191206-183392-n2s04i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C287%2C5883%2C3422&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Families can use various strategies to keep children connected with a parent who's away for work.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Orsan Elitok</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s not always possible for families to be together during the Christmas holidays if one parent is working away for several days. They could be on a tour of duty for the Australian Defence Force or in a fly-in, fly-out mining position.</p>
<p>Other jobs, such as those in long-distance transport, firefighting, seasonal agriculture and other occupations, can also regularly take a parent away from home.</p>
<p>Such types of work can be challenging for those seeking a good <a href="https://www.oecd.org/statistics/Better-Life-Initiative-country-note-Australia.pdf">work-life balance</a>. The parent who works away <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/49542969" title="Military people won’t ask for help : experiences of deployment of Australian Defence Force personnel, their families, and implications for social work">misses out on time with family</a>, which can be especially difficult with younger children.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-ways-parents-can-help-their-kids-take-risks-and-why-its-good-for-them-120576">Five ways parents can help their kids take risks – and why it’s good for them</a>
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<p>But there are things families can do to support children when one parent is away.</p>
<h2>Home alone</h2>
<p>Previous research has found <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/children-australia/article/parents-perspectives-of-their-childrens-reactions-to-an-australian-military-deployment/2262EBEDBD0BCD2D5156474803060B25" title="Parents’ Perspectives of their Children's Reactions to an Australian Military Deployment">young children in military families repond in various ways</a> to prolonged separation from a parent.</p>
<p><a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1018364.pdf" title="How Wartime Military Service Affects Children and Families">Physical responses</a> include disturbed sleep (nightmares, unable to self-settle, taking longer to fall asleep) and regressions in toileting and feeding. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/having-problems-with-your-kids-tantrums-bed-wetting-or-withdrawal-heres-when-to-get-help-125299">Having problems with your kid's tantrums, bed-wetting or withdrawal? Here's when to get help</a>
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<p><a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-25070-020" title="When a parent goes to war: Effects of parental deployment on very young children and implications for intervention">Emotional responses</a> can be an increase in tears, anger, outbursts and withdrawing to avoid further hurt.</p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10591-011-9144-8" title="Community Family Therapy with Military Families Experiencing Deployment">Social responses</a> include children struggling with daily routines. They might be less likely to cope with the normal frustrations that happen when playing with friends and siblings. Clingy behaviour with adults may also occur, which isolates children from their friends.</p>
<p>The good news is parents can support their young children in a number of ways to build resilience. Families shared these ideas in my research.</p>
<h2>The power of narratives</h2>
<p>Some programs <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cha.2016.8" title="Narrative, Acculturation and Ritual: Themes from a Socio-ecological Study of Australian Defence Force Families Experiencing Parental Deployment">recommend</a> <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10567-011-0096-1" title="Mechanisms of Risk and Resilience in Military Families: Theoretical and Empirical Basis of a Family-Focused Resilience Enhancement Program">developing a family narrative</a>. These narratives might be a simple sentence children can use when asked about their absent parent.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
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<p>Mum went away on a plane. She is coming home on a plane three sleeps after Easter.</p>
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<p>Here is a family narrative a 2.5-year-old child told me:</p>
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<p>I miss my daddy. He in Afghanistan. I not go Afghanistan. Mummy not go Afghanistan. Only Daddy go Afghanistan.</p>
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<p>Positive activities that nurture a child’s emotional connection with a parent who is away are also important.</p>
<p>This includes encouraging children to draw a picture of an activity they are looking forward to doing with their parent when they return, such as going swimming or visiting the local park.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307311/original/file-20191217-124036-10874oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307311/original/file-20191217-124036-10874oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307311/original/file-20191217-124036-10874oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307311/original/file-20191217-124036-10874oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307311/original/file-20191217-124036-10874oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307311/original/file-20191217-124036-10874oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307311/original/file-20191217-124036-10874oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307311/original/file-20191217-124036-10874oq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Encourage a child to draw a picture of a family activity with the parent who is away.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/kwanchai c</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The parent at home can help by writing down what the picture represents. This can be put in a parcel to send to the parent who is away. Keeping a copy of the drawing can help with communication between the child and the returned parent on reunion. They can discuss and plan family activities together.</p>
<p>With help, children can also write emails and postcards, even record voice or video messages about what they miss, how they feel and what they’re looking forward to doing when the parent gets back.</p>
<p>The parent who works away can also pre-prepare some short video stories about what they liked doing as a child, something they enjoy now and what they hope to do when they return. These can then be played at home when contact is not possible.</p>
<p>Homemade resources children can use to self-soothe when they are missing their parent are useful. These could include a small photo album of the parent and child, a recordable story book with their parent’s voice, or a video of the parent reading them some stories.</p>
<p>Make a time-line sticker chart children can personalise to count off the days. It could start with when the parent left, then include holidays and birthdays, and end when they will return.</p>
<h2>Getting support</h2>
<p>My <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/27664" title="Recommendations from the findings on young children from Australian Defence Force families">research</a>, which explored the experiences of children aged two to five in 11 Australian Defence Force families, found parents left at at home caring for children can feel unsupported. </p>
<p>There is a lack of available resources to help them have conversations with their young children about the parent working away.</p>
<p>One parent said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Look, you are just on your own when the kids are young, before they go to school. There is nothing out there. </p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-reasons-i-always-get-children-picture-books-for-christmas-127801">5 reasons I always get children picture books for Christmas</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To address this gap, I’ve created two free ebooks, based on the experiences of defence families: <a href="https://www.defence.gov.au/DCO/_Master/documents/Books/Roses-Story.pdf">Waiting for Daddy</a> and <a href="https://www.defence.gov.au/DCO/_Master/documents/Books/Anthonys-Story.pdf">Now that I am big</a>. Although defence-focused, they should be useful to any family that has a parent frequently away from home.</p>
<p>Social media support groups organised informally by parents and other organisations can help support families working in various industries. These include <a href="https://www.miningfm.com.au/">Mining Family Matters</a>, <a href="https://www.australianmining.com.au/features/world-first-a-self-help-book-for-mining-families/">Australian Mining</a>, <a href="https://www.defence.gov.au/dco/">Defence Community Organisation</a>, <a href="https://dfa.org.au/">Defence Families Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.defence.gov.au/Health/HealthPortal/">Department of Defence</a>.</p>
<p>Research shows <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9145.html" title="Proven Benefits of Early Childhood Interventions">good early intervention programs make a big difference</a> to children’s healthy development and their ability to thrive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125641/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marg Rogers works for the University of New England, Australia. Our team receives funding from The Ian Potter Foundation to create two programs for educators and parents of 2-5 year olds from defence force families. We do not get paid to do the research by the funding body, instead, the funding helps to pay for the costs of the project.</span></em></p>While many families are busy planning how to spend their time together this Christmas holiday season, others are planning how to manage their time apart.Marg Rogers, Lecturer, Early Childhood Education, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/748442017-03-29T01:07:52Z2017-03-29T01:07:52ZCuts to sole parent benefits are human rights violations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162561/original/image-20170327-18995-13maeh8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">40% of children in sole-parent households are living below the poverty line.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sole parents in Australia are economically vulnerable and are experiencing ongoing cuts to their social security. Legislation limiting welfare benefits that was rushed through the Senate last week will make many of them poorer – but how is this a human rights issue?</p>
<p>Australia is party to many United Nations human rights treaties, including the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx">International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights</a>. The covenant contains a right to social security, which countries owe to everyone. It requires countries to guarantee that the rights in the covenant are upheld without discrimination. </p>
<p>The UN <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CESCR/Pages/CESCRIndex.aspx">committee</a> responsible for this treaty has explained that social security must be:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… adequate in amount and duration in order that everyone may realise his or her rights to family protection and assistance, an adequate standard of living and adequate access to health care. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The committee has stressed the principle of “non-retrogression” applies under the covenant. This means that countries may not remove rights that have been developed over time and on which people have come to depend. </p>
<p>A country can only reduce social security benefits if it can justify doing so after consulting affected groups, considering alternatives and avoiding discrimination against particular groups, and harmful impacts on the realisation of the right to social security. </p>
<p>The government will breach the rights discussed here as a result of its cuts to benefits in the <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=s1064">Social Services Legislation Amendment Bill</a>. The bill arose because the government refused to introduce an improved childcare package without parliament <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2017/feb/08/coalition-releases-childcare-package-compromise-in-bid-to-clear-senate-politics-live">finding budget savings elsewhere</a>. It looked to welfare, the area of the budget supporting the poorest Australians, to fund the childcare measures.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fems%2Fs1064_ems_dcc97d69-0fb8-4cec-a2a9-444db0feaef0%22">A$1.6 billion</a> that these cuts generate for government are being shaved off the already inadequate support for struggling families. The legislation follows various attempts by the Coalition government since 2014 to reduce the welfare budget by removing benefits from young people, parents and other groups already facing financial hardship.</p>
<p>These have met with significant opposition from the public and in parliament. The <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-23/senate-passes-smaller-savings-to-fund-childcare-forms/8378338">government insists</a> families will not be worse off.</p>
<p>The latest changes, while certainly less harsh than earlier legislative attempts, will still have negative impacts on students and other vulnerable groups, particularly low-income families. The Family Tax Benefit indexation freeze means that while the cost of living rises, family payments will fall further behind as families effectively become poorer. </p>
<p>The bill also denies parents income support for seven days by imposing a one-week wait before accessing parenting payments.</p>
<p>Lastly, it freezes indexation of income-free areas for parenting and unemployment payments. This means recipients who work will start losing their income support payments sooner. </p>
<p>Worryingly, the government has not indicated whether it will still proceed with some of the suspended cuts to supplements – such as Family Tax Benefit, education and energy supplements – that it previously attempted to legislate.</p>
<p>The measures will worsen <a href="http://www.acoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Poverty-in-Australia-2016.pdf">child poverty</a>, which is already high in Australia. Forty percent of children in sole-parent households are living below the poverty line. </p>
<p>Since more than 90% of sole parents are women, the measures will have a discriminatory impact on this disadvantaged group and their children. Families with children in high school who do not benefit from childcare increases will be hundreds of dollars worse off in the next two years. </p>
<p>The Australian Council of Social Service, the St Vincent de Paul Society, the National Council for Single Mothers and their Children, and the author of this article have written to the experts mandated by the UN to deal with extreme poverty, and discrimination against women, to report on this violation of Australia’s human rights commitments. </p>
<p>The correspondence points to the retrogressive impact of the new laws and previous laws on the right to social security, coupled with violations of the right to non-discrimination. The social security benefits are already not adequate for the needs of sole parent families facing hardship in this wealthy country. </p>
<p>The current bill follows earlier budget savings measures <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2012A00144">introduced</a> by the Labor government in 2013. These moved thousands of sole parents off existing payments onto the lower Newstart, resulting in significant reductions to their benefits. Parliament’s <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Human_Rights/Scrutiny_reports/2013/2013/52013/index">Joint Committee on Human Rights</a> found the government had not demonstrated that the cuts were compatible with human rights. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.10storiesofsinglemothers.org.au/who-we-are/">Single mothers</a> affected by those cuts have pointed to a range of negative impacts. These include: rental stress; growing financial insecurity and hardship; stigmatisation of their children; inability to enrol their children in sport and community activities or to pay for school excursions; psychological stress impacting on their health and capacity to work and study; and shame at having to ask others for help. </p>
<p>A 2012 letter by the welfare groups listed above resulted in <a href="https://spdb.ohchr.org/hrdb/22nd/public_-_UA_Australie_19.10.12_(2.2012).pdf">UN experts calling</a> on the government to justify its apparent rights violations. The call went unheeded. </p>
<p>The new cuts are being brought to the attention of the international experts to put on record the government’s ongoing violations of Australia’s human rights commitments and to ask them to intervene on behalf of sole-parent families facing growing poverty and inequality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beth Goldblatt has worked in a voluntary capacity with the Australian Council of Social Service, the National Council for Single Mothers and their Children, and the St Vincent de Paul Society in writing joint submissions to the United Nations.</span></em></p>The latest welfare changes will hurt low-income families and breach Australia’s human rights obligations.Beth Goldblatt, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/222882014-01-23T19:42:36Z2014-01-23T19:42:36ZIs ‘unsustainable’ welfare growth really being driven by Newstart?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39706/original/4xy2939b-1390435788.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Moving some sole parents onto the lower Newstart payments has pushed up the numbers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alan Porritt/AAPIMAGE</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Social services minister Kevin Andrews has targeted the Disability Support Pension and Newstart, the main payment for the unemployed, for reform, branding the current level of welfare as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/21/australias-unsustainable-welfare-system-to-be-overhauled-says-minister">unsustainable</a>.</p>
<p>But the idea that growing numbers on Newstart are providing relentless pressure on the federal budget is not supported by the data in the <a href="http://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-department/publications-articles/research-publications/statistical-paper-series/statistical-paper-no-11-income-support-customers-a-statistical-overview-2012">annual Statistical Report</a> that Andrews referred to when calling for reform.</p>
<p>In fact, the number of people receiving <a href="http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/subjects/payments-for-job-seekers">unemployment payments</a> (Newstart for people aged 22 years and over and Youth Allowance (other) for people aged 16 to 21) was a little lower in 2012 than in 2002 (633,000 in 2012 compared to 645,000 in 2002). </p>
<p>Adjusting for growing population size also shows the proportion of working-age Australians receiving unemployment payments actually fell from around 5.0% to 4.2% between 2002 and 2012.</p>
<h2>Complicated picture</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39707/original/sg8v7cdj-1390435913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39707/original/sg8v7cdj-1390435913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39707/original/sg8v7cdj-1390435913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39707/original/sg8v7cdj-1390435913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39707/original/sg8v7cdj-1390435913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39707/original/sg8v7cdj-1390435913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39707/original/sg8v7cdj-1390435913.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Social services minister Kevin Andrews wants to review welfare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, looking at more recent trends, the picture becomes more complicated. Following the onset of the global financial crisis, the number of people on unemployment payments jumped from a low point of 3.3% of the working age population in 2008 to 4.2% in mid-2009 and 4.4% in 2010. </p>
<p>After 2010 the numbers started to fall. But more recent figures from the government’s <a href="http://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-department/labour-market-and-related-payments-monthly-profile-publications">monthly statistics on labour force payments</a> show another large jump from 4.2% to 5.3% of the working-age population between mid-2012 and mid-2013. This was an increase from around 633,000 people to just over 800,000. It should be noted, however, that the numbers in the annual publication and the monthly publications do not exactly align.</p>
<p>So why has there been such a large increase in the number of people receiving unemployment payments since 2012? According to <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6202.0Dec%202013?OpenDocument">the ABS</a>, since June 2012 the unemployment rate has increased from around 5.0% to 5.5%, and in Australia the number of people receiving unemployment benefits fairly closely tracks broader trends in the labour market.</p>
<h2>Sole parents swapped over</h2>
<p>A more important factor, however, appears to be government policy changes in other parts of the welfare system. <a href="http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/centrelink/parenting-payment/changes-to-parenting-payment">From January 1, 2013</a>, parents have no longer been eligible for the Parenting Payment when their youngest child turns six years of age if receiving Parenting Payment (Partnered), or eight years old for those receiving Parenting Payment (Single). </p>
<p>The then-Gillard government <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3633771.htm">estimated</a> that around 75,000 parents would be transferred from Parenting Payments to Newstart, and another 10,000 would lose all benefit entitlements because of their income from work. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39709/original/74hf8dzx-1390436423.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/39709/original/74hf8dzx-1390436423.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39709/original/74hf8dzx-1390436423.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39709/original/74hf8dzx-1390436423.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39709/original/74hf8dzx-1390436423.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39709/original/74hf8dzx-1390436423.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/39709/original/74hf8dzx-1390436423.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Greens and social groups protested against changes to parenting payments last year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The monthly statistics on labour force payments shows that between December 2012 and February 2013 the number of people on unemployment payments jumped from around 700,000 to 796,000, an increase around four times as great as the corresponding periods for the previous two years. </p>
<p>Also, around 83% of the increase in the number of recipients were women, suggesting that this very large jump is likely to be explained mainly by parents being transferred from Parenting Payments.</p>
<p>The monthly figures do not identify whether beneficiaries have children or not, while the annual statistics will not show the effect of this policy change on the number of people receiving parenting payment until next year. Nevertheless, it seems very likely much of this recent increase will be offset by reductions in numbers on other payments. </p>
<p>This substitution between payments also explains a good part of the <a href="http://inside.org.au/growth-of-disability-support-pension-numbers/">longer-term increase</a> in numbers of people receiving the Disability Support Pension (DSP).</p>
<p>This also raises the problem that if the <a href="http://kevinandrews.dss.gov.au/transcripts/41">welfare review</a> foreshadowed by Andrews does only look at Newstart and DSP, then it will inevitably miss part of the explanation for the trends that appear to be of concern.</p>
<h2>Moving people into work</h2>
<p>There is much to agree with Andrews’ argument that the “best form of welfare is work”, a proposal in accord with the previous government’s rationale for moving people from the Parenting Payment to Newstart. The problems that some people on welfare face in moving into work require a comprehensive analysis, however.</p>
<p>Not all the problems that people on welfare face are caused by the welfare system, with barriers to work including labour market programs that are not equally effective for all, the level of job opportunities in the regions in which people live, the availability of public transport, the availability and affordability of childcare, and the level of skills of individuals, as well as employer attitudes to people disadvantaged in the labour market. </p>
<p>Incentives in the welfare system are only one part of these potential barriers.</p>
<p>Having said this, the wide and growing gap between the <a href="https://theconversation.com/paltry-newstart-allowance-is-fast-becoming-a-poverty-trap-6218">level of Newstart benefits and the level of DSP</a> is certainly an issue that needs to be urgently reviewed. If, as suggested by <a href="http://m.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/kevin-andrews-is-tackling-the-welfare-problem-labor-ignored-20140121-316jk.html">Fairfax’s Peter Martin</a>, this is one of the objectives of the review, real progress could be made in helping the unemployed. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/22288/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Whiteford receives funding from the Australian Research Council, with a linkage partner being the Department of Social Services. He was a member of the Reference Group for the Harmer Review of the Australian Pension system.</span></em></p>Social services minister Kevin Andrews has targeted the Disability Support Pension and Newstart, the main payment for the unemployed, for reform, branding the current level of welfare as unsustainable…Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/126432013-03-13T04:17:06Z2013-03-13T04:17:06ZHow can the government justify a policy that penalises working sole parents?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/21204/original/m6n5qsyx-1363148091.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C55%2C999%2C628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The government policy which moves sole parents onto lower paid Newstart benefits once their children turn eight has caught the attention of the United Nations Human Rights Council.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/Flickeringerbrad</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Late last year, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council expressed its concern that moves to push sole parents onto a lower paid income support may breach our responsibilities under a number of human rights treaties. </p>
<p>The Council <a href="http://spdb.ohchr.org/hrdb/22nd/public_-_UA_Australie_19.10.12_(2.2012).pdf">requested information</a> on why the changes are happening and whether they are warranted. To date, it has not received a response. </p>
<p>But statistics now available suggest the government may not be able to justify the changes. The biggest financial losers of this policy are <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/6224.0.55.001%7EJun%202011%7EChapter%7ELone%20Parent%20Families">sole parents who are already in part-time work</a>.</p>
<p>The ALP Government claims that moving 110,581 sole parents onto lower income support payments when their youngest child turns eight will push them into paid jobs. However, 60% of those to be impoverished are already in part-time paid work and will lose more than $100 per week, as is shown in the example below.</p>
<p>Also, similar cuts imposed on 40,000 more recent sole parents since 2006 have already failed to increase their paid work involvement. So why continue this policy?</p>
<p>The most recently released five-year ABS data from 2005-2011 showed the annual employment rates of sole parents rise and fall in ways that cannot be correlated with the policy changes, let alone permit any claim for causality.</p>
<p>Other sole parents are also exempt from looking for paid work because of age, violence problems, children’s needs and disabilities or health issues - but they still lost $62 per week. Neither of these groups is expected to look for work, so why reduce their incomes?</p>
<p>All the sole parents affected by the current round of cuts have already been officially expected to look for paid work for at least two years, since their child turned six. Many who failed to find jobs lack suitable work experience, as well facing the difficulties of a tight job market. </p>
<p>Sole parents face potential bias from employers, who know they are likely to need time off to their children’s needs. Some may show disabilities, are older and/or have other visible characteristics that employers don’t like. Often therefore sole parents are only offered casual jobs (often low paid) that lack predictability, have no security or possibilities of promotion. Research shows that bad jobs damage parental confidence and skills. Well-paid jobs that fit children’s time needs are scarce.</p>
<p>And there are far more job seekers than available jobs. Current vacancies are around 150,000 at any one time, but <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-government-wants-to-ignore-about-sole-parents-and-jobseeking-11582">as I have previously written</a> there are around 600,000 people looking officially for jobs – plus others who want work, and those in work who want to change jobs. So there may be four people for every job, and many more for the part-time positions that fit around school hours.</p>
<p>By removing some 140,000 sole parents from “parenting payments” over the past six years, the government has inappropriately reduced their status to just being job seekers. This is a failure by government to recognise the main responsibility of sole parents as caring effectively for their children, including those aged over eight.</p>
<p>In June 2011, there were 630,000 lone parent families with dependants in the population. Nearly 60% had jobs and employment increased with the age of the youngest child. So three out of four sole parents with dependent children aged 15 to 24 years had a job, compared with 35% of parents of under five. So age does create the required changes without coercion.</p>
<p>Parenting Payment Single maximum rate is $663.70 per fortnight but the Newstart Allowance reduces this to $533.00 per fortnight, a loss of $130.70 plus a higher taper rate for extra earnings. The annualised Newstart Allowance is less than $14,000, plus the Family Tax Benefits A+B for one child of $7,500 makes just over $21,000. This is a very low basic income, and still below the poverty line, usually estimated as half of the median income of $50,076.</p>
<h2>Making it worthwhile to earn extra money</h2>
<p>The official requirement is that sole parents take on 30 paid hours per fortnight. At $17 per hour, just over the minimum wage, this would contribute $510 extra per fortnight. However, this is not the net income, as the Newstart payment reduces by 40 cents per dollar earned over $62 per fortnight. This contrasts with a parenting payment threshold of $176 plus $24 per extra child, before the 40 cent cuts in. </p>
<p>So now out of a fortnightly $510, a sole parent now nets only $369.80, a loss of around $114, plus the basic $130 difference in the base payments. Out of this sum come the costs of any care, the related costs of going to work and the loss of time for child related activities for little over $10 per hour.</p>
<p>Finding flexible employment, or employers, is therefore necessary but not easy. Sole parents explain that paid jobs that fit children’s time needs are scarce and in many areas nonexistent. Many offer voluntary work as an alternative to put something back and develop skills when suitable paid work is not there. </p>
<p>The Government should be pleased to offer these parents an adequate living payment because of their social, rather than just economic, contributions. They add to community well-being through their primary role as sole parent, plus some voluntary work at the local school or other local service, and maybe do some extra study. Surely this is enough? </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12643/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eva Cox does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Late last year, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council expressed its concern that moves to push sole parents onto a lower paid income support may breach our responsibilities under a number of human rights…Eva Cox, Professorial Fellow Jumbunna IHL, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/116532013-01-28T19:39:17Z2013-01-28T19:39:17ZReading between the lines of Australia’s employment services ‘success’ story<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/19644/original/rrp7yvrr-1359086513.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Federal Government claims Australia's employment services are world class - but how effective are they really?</span> </figcaption></figure><p>A new report from the <a href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/employment/activating-jobseekers_9789264185920-en">OECD</a> on Australia’s employment service system has prompted the <a href="http://ministers.deewr.gov.au/ellis/building-world-class-employment-participation-system-australia">Federal Government to claim</a> that Australia is a “world leader in employment participation” and that <a href="http://deewr.gov.au/job-services-australia-jsa">Job Services Australia</a> (JSA) has delivered exceptional results in moving unemployed people into jobs. But are the Government’s claims justified in terms of what the report actually says?</p>
<h2>The role of Newstart in jobs growth</h2>
<p>The report, “Activating Jobseekers: How Australia Does It”, describes Australia’s high levels of jobs growth and growing labour force participation over recent years. It notes its success through the GFC in maintaining low unemployment compared to other OECD countries. However, it also notes that there is a high level of involuntary part time work or <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/1301.0%7E2012%7EMain%20Features%7EUnderutilised%20labour%7E297">underemployment</a>, at 7.2% of the workforce in 2010 (<a href="http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/meisubs.nsf/0/5252336FEAF62241CA257AF5000D76EE/$File/62020_dec%202012.pdf">and in 2012</a>), the highest in the OECD. </p>
<p>It says that Australia has a “flexible labour market, with high levels of casual and part-time work, short average job tenures, and limited regulation of layoffs, but a fairly high minimum wage.”</p>
<p>According to the report the “effectiveness of quasi-market delivery of employment services and a slow decline in the net replacement rate for unemployment benefits may have contributed to the strong performance of the Australian labour market.”</p>
<p>By this account it wasn’t only the employment service system operated by a range of for- profit and non-profit organisations that may have been so beneficial for the labour market. The well documented declining rate of <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-a-newstart-boost-actually-deter-jobseekers-9083">Newstart Allowance</a> in relation to wages – the replacement rate - acted to force unemployed people off benefits presumably into casual and part-time jobs which account for such a large proportion of the Australian labour market. </p>
<p>While the hourly minimum pay rates in these jobs are not low by international standards, many do not provide sufficient hours of work which are also very important for net earnings and income. Where hours of work are insufficient, vulnerability to poverty is increased.</p>
<p>The OECD report goes on to say that the effect of the low Newstart payment was magnified by increased workforce participation requirements imposed on people receiving higher welfare payments such as disability and sole parent payments. This included for some groups such as sole parents, reallocation to the lower level Newstart payments <a href="http://deewr.gov.au/job-services-australia-and-parenting-payment-parents-and-carers">after 2006</a>.</p>
<p>The aggregate outcome of these policies was to reduce the proportion of the working-age population in receipt of benefits from 21.3% in 1996 to 15.2% in 2007.</p>
<h2>Long term outcomes from employment services</h2>
<p>According to a <a href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/an-overview-of-australia-s-system-of-income-and-employment-assistance-for-the-unemployed_5k8zk8q40lbw-en">report</a> commissioned by the OECD and undertaken by researchers at the University of New South Wales, job placement outcomes for clients of job services are measured over quite short time frames, usually between three and six months following commencement in a job.</p>
<p>The report’s authors, Dr Peter Davidson and Professor Peter Whiteford say “the extent of ‘churn’ in employment and income support after leaving employment assistance and the jobseeker and employment characteristics with which it is associated, is an under-researched area.” Churn refers to the cycling back and forward between employment and income support payments.</p>
<p>This gap in the research base is also acknowledged in the OECD report which supports longer term tracking of both employment outcomes and earnings as a way of promoting employment retention and advancement and placement into stable jobs.</p>
<h2>What’s the problem?</h2>
<p>There are deficits in information about the type and quality of jobs that unemployed people are finding through Job Services Australia agencies. We do know that the low level of Newstart payments and rigorous <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook43p/welfaretowork">welfare-to-work</a> policies mean that there are strong incentives, or little choice, for unemployed people to take whatever jobs are immediately available even if these are precarious and poor quality.</p>
<p>For the Federal Government, both the present and former, this has important outcomes. It reduces overall unemployment rates and claims on welfare payments. For unemployed people themselves, it may be true that being in a job is better than being on welfare especially as Newstart payments are too low to live on. A quick return to work also reduces the risk of long term unemployment and the further labour market disadvantages this brings.</p>
<p>However, a quick turn over from unemployment into casual, unsustainable jobs is not necessarily the best outcome for all unemployed people. A better path may be to improve the ‘human capital’ through education and training, of people who have a work history in low end jobs or who have been out of the workforce for a long period.</p>
<p>This is supported by another <a href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/effects-of-reducing-gender-gaps-in-education-and-labour-force-participation-on-economic-growth-in-the-oecd_5k8xb722w928-en">new report</a> from the OECD which tells us that “a large body of theoretical and empirical analysis exists on the link between investment in human capital and economic growth.” <a href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/an-overview-of-australia-s-system-of-income-and-employment-assistance-for-the-unemployed_5k8zk8q40lbw-en">Davidson and Whiteford</a> in their report to the OECD also say that studies in the United States show that employment outcomes are better over the long term where programs focus on improving human capital. </p>
<p>Both economic growth and individual employment outcomes, it seems, benefit from investments in human capital.</p>
<h2>Implications</h2>
<p>In my research on <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-policy-can-secure-a-better-future-for-working-women-5442">women in insecure jobs</a>, there were participants frustrated by the lack of support to improve their “human capital” and to find better quality jobs. Janine, aged 52, was keen to retrain for an alternative occupation in health services. She had been attached to an employment service provider to assist her with her job search efforts and retraining. She describes her experience:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“(The adviser) wanted me to do a course that lasts a few weeks and be in work straight away. And I thought, I’ve done all those menial jobs. I want to do something different, something I like.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The rigid welfare-to-work requirements on Janine meant she worked part-time as a cleaner although she sustained a repetitive strain injury which made this work very painful. She had raised a large family and had worked in her former husband’s business. She won’t be eligible for an age pension until she is 67, which means at 52 she has another 15 years of potential workforce participation. </p>
<p>Janine’s story highlights the increasing significance of changing circumstances across the life course, the “care penalty” on mothers, and the need for sustainable employment for older age groups. Her story shows that the employment services system is singularly ill-equipped to help people like her to make a transition into <a href="http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/decent-work/lang--en/index.htm">decent work</a>.</p>
<p>The Government and the employment service provider were able to claim a positive outcome when Janine started her cleaning job. The employment service may have obtained a payment for this.</p>
<p>It wasn’t much of an outcome for Janine though. And there was not much value added for Australia. In a better quality, sustainable job, Janine could work more hours,over a longer time frame, with all the benefits this would bring to herself and the economy through increased income, tax revenues and retirement savings. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/meisubs.nsf/0/5252336FEAF62241CA257AF5000D76EE/$File/62020_dec%202012.pdf">underemployment rate</a> is currently 9.5% for females compared to 5.4% for males. Janine’s situation also reflects the <a href="https://theconversation.com/mind-the-gap-but-theres-more-to-gender-equality-than-pay-parity-7436">systemic gender biases</a> in the Australian labour market, raising questions about employment policies and services which reinforce these.</p>
<p>The Government is conducting a review of <a href="http://deewr.gov.au/employment-services-beyond-2015">employment services</a> with a view to changes in 2015 when current service contracts are due to expire. An issues paper <a href="http://deewr.gov.au/employment-services-beyond-2015">“Employment Services: Building on Success”</a> is the basis for the public consultative process. The terms of reference for the review are narrowly focussed on marginal improvements to the present “successful” system. </p>
<p>A broader review of the policy settings and scope of employment services in Australia, and the measurement of their success, is sorely needed. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11653/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Veronica Sheen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new report from the OECD on Australia’s employment service system has prompted the Federal Government to claim that Australia is a “world leader in employment participation” and that Job Services Australia…Veronica Sheen, Research Associate, Political and Social Inquiry , Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/115822013-01-16T19:52:41Z2013-01-16T19:52:41ZWhat the government wants to ignore about sole parents and jobseeking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/19181/original/rpmxxfvb-1358124676.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sole parents face competition from other jobseekers for flexible jobs that enable them to care for their children.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is universally agreed Newstart is inadequate, especially for the long-term support of individuals or families. The government says their solution is for recipients to get a job, but that is not easy or even possible for many Newstart recipients. Of more than 600,000 people on the payment, about half are not even required to look for work because they can’t. </p>
<p>They may be in training, sick, in deep distress, volunteering, needing treatment or just too old, so are exempted but still on the same low payment. The government focuses public attention on the other 300,000 plus who are registered as job seekers, ignoring the other half on the inadequate payment, often for the long-term.</p>
<p>Many official job seekers will have serious difficulties finding a job, particularly sole parents with family constraints on time and location. They compete with the rest of the 600,000 unemployed people that the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates are active job seekers, as well as those in a job but wanting to move, those wanting more hours and those who would take a job if offered one but are not counted as looking. </p>
<p>So there may be a million job seekers, chasing around the current <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/trends/job-vacancies-slump-in-november-20130109-2cg1g.html?skin=text-only">160,000 registered job vacancies</a>, and falling. Even if there are some unregistered jobs, there may be a ratio of six seekers for each job.</p>
<p>There are around 100,000 sole parents officially looking for the few flexible jobs that fit school type hours competing with others fitting parenting around paid work who have partners! </p>
<p>Sole parents have to deal with employer prejudices against sole parents, lack of child care and how to manage sick kids. Maybe 10% of them will find secure jobs, more may find some casual work, but their chances of finding the right jobs are not high. </p>
<p>There is also no evidence that cutting their income increases their employment rates, in fact it may decrease them - looking for work costs money. Their numbers may increase if some of the holders of part-time jobs cut hours or jobs because their lower income doesn’t cover the costs of working.</p>
<p>Therefore it is hard to justify moving sole parents onto Newstart for their own good. The lack of data suggests that there are few benefits and policy that devalues parenting roles may backfire in other ways. </p>
<p>Cutting sole parent payments devalues social relationships and redefines parents as individual economic units. The primary carer is still usually the mother, so the cuts are sexist. </p>
<p>The policy also fails to recognise kids, even aged eight and above, need time, skill and social inputs as against just covering costs. These gendered prejudices against <a href="http://www.acoss.org.au/media/release/no_happy_new_year_for_people_hit_by_benefit_changes">single mothers</a> use a vulnerable group to make money savings. </p>
<p>The policy ignores serious barriers faced by conscientious parents looking for at least 15 hours of paid work that fit with school hours, the diverse needs of children, the skills and experience of parents and avoids prejudiced employers.</p>
<p>It’s really hard juggling kids and work if you are the only adult there. They get sick, they need extra attention sometimes, they may have minor disabilities or problems at school. They need care in holidays and often before and after school, as jobs fitting into school hours are rare.</p>
<p>Children need predictability, as do mothers, but often casual workers lack the control over their hours. There are serious structural difficulties of finding jobs that fit family needs, the time demands of children and the difficulties of good solo primary parenting.</p>
<p>I can remember my time as a sole parent in the 1970s on the what was then labelled the Widows Pension, when I returned to university with a primary school aged child. I’d already had some years of juggling day care and jobs and knew how to work the system. Day care was virtually nonexistent but I wheedled a place in a <a href="http://www.sdn.org.au/about/">SDN centre</a>, so later expiated my guilt at queue jumping by taking on child care and welfare payments as my policy area in the newly formed Women’s Electoral Lobby.</p>
<p>I am therefore both emotionally and professionally aware of the problems women face in combining paid work and child rearing. As a feminist, I am both aware of the benefits that come from the right to paid work, but not coercion into crappy insecure jobs. </p>
<p>in the last ten years, I have undertaken two research projects with Kathleen Swinbourne and Terry Priest. The first was a qualitative research project that <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=clac_ctte/completed_inquiries/2002-04/partic_requ/submissions/sub07.rtf">found</a> sole parents want a job, but one that fitted children’s needs as good parenting was their priority, as it should be. </p>
<p>The next research project looked at the new <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/25564688?versionId=45678487">welfare to work</a> policy in 2005. It showed parents face serious difficulties finding suitable jobs. Some have come out of difficult and violent relationships, some have children with a disability but not serious enough for a carer payment; some have limited language skills, chronic ill-health and other problems. All are treated as though it is their fault they can’t find work.</p>
<p>The Howard government reduced sole parent payments for new applicants once their child turned eight, and required they look for jobs once their child turned six. There are around 40,000 sole parents who have been transferred to Newstart but no evidence that this has improved their employment, compared to those still on parenting payment. They have already had two years of job seeking, so reducing their income does not create paid work.</p>
<p>The official claims that children benefit from an employed parent works for those who find good jobs. However, what if futile job seeking creates more stress and poverty for most of these families? </p>
<p>Many of those now transferred to Newstart are also older as they have been on the payments since before 2006! All this makes jobs harder to find, so they should be given an adequate income to live on. An alternate set of support carrots and changed employer attitudes would offer better outcomes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/11582/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eva Cox does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is universally agreed Newstart is inadequate, especially for the long-term support of individuals or families. The government says their solution is for recipients to get a job, but that is not easy…Eva Cox, Professorial Fellow Jumbunna IHL, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/101512012-10-16T19:01:05Z2012-10-16T19:01:05ZPrejudiced policymaking underlies Labor’s cuts to single parent payments<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16514/original/sk4qn4cv-1350276066.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The ALP has passed a bill that will reduce the social security payments for single parents — most of whom are women.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ed Yourdon\Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s no doubt that last week’s <a href="http://media.smh.com.au/news/national-times/julia-gillards-misogyny--speech-in-full-3701787.html">stoush between Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott</a> over sexism and misogyny was extraordinary. But in spite of all the bluster, a comparison of each party’s policies might serve as a more accurate indicator of inbuilt gender prejudices.</p>
<p>In areas of social policy the mindsets of both parties are similar, if not identical. This was clearly illustrated by the support of both Abbott and Gillard for the passage of social security amendments, which will reduce the income of more than 100,000 sole parents — almost all female.</p>
<p>At the same time as the government was bruiting its first tranche payment to low-paid welfare workers — a welcome, if slow, reform — it was conspicuously silent on its planned cuts to the single parent allowance. The only opposing views came from the Greens, who have since also sought extra money for the 60,000 sole parents whose income will drop by nearly $60 per week on January first 2013.</p>
<p>This is a Howard <a href="http://www.budget.gov.au/2005-06/overview2/html/welfare_01.htm">Welfare to Work</a> policy, which has been enthusiastically taken up by Gillard. It is sexist because it fails to recognise the value of parenting. These sole parents have been grandfathered on this payment for at least six years, and are already under an obligation to look for fifteen hours a week paid work (or are currently in such a job). Some have serious difficulties finding appropriate paid work that allows them to prioritise their children’s needs. They are balancing low income, time demands and employer prejudices to combine care needs and part-time work.</p>
<p>The core issue is whether the decision to further extend this program can be justified by evidence supporting the claim that changing the payment system will actually benefit sole parents. The proposition is that that lower pay rates, together with some improvements to employment support services, will increase their workforce participation rates. </p>
<p>This is presumed to be beneficial. The shift of this cohort to the lower pay level is based on the assumption that the move has significantly benefited a proportion of parents that have already been subject to the changed eligibility.</p>
<p>The government’s case, supported by the Opposition, has relied on stereotypes to reassure any questioners that these supposedly problematic sole parents will benefit from a reduced income, as it will force them into paid jobs. The argument being put forward is that these sole parents stayed on the higher parenting payment in 2006, so it’s only fair to lower their payments to match the 40,000 or so sole parents already on the lower Newstart payment. This way, they can share its benefits. The implicit (and sometimes explicit) argument is that these parents are already being pushed off the payments to their own benefit, so the changes obviously work.</p>
<p>There are fewer sole parents on sole parent payments but, as their eligibility for the payments changed, that is to be expected. Many of the parenting payment recipients who have a part-time job would not qualify for Newstart, as the taper rate is higher and basic income lower. Some estimates suggest about 30% would lose their eligibility for a payment and the concessions that accompany them.</p>
<p>I spent some time trying to find statistics on who, exactly, was on parenting payments. It was hard to work this out, as the DEEWR doesn’t seem to publish any usable information on sole parent payment recipients. I could find the <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd1112a/12bd164">total number of people on parenting payments</a> in April 2012 (320,828), but no details on their workforce status, age of children or duration of payment. Newstart figures do not indicate whether recipients are sole parents, in paid work and the ages of their children.</p>
<p>The only figures I could find to assess the economic situation of single female sole parents were some ABS statistics on workforce participation. These do not cover payment sources, but relate to the government‘s claims that sole parents would share the benefits of paid work. The ABS data shows some changes in employment and unemployment (actively looking for paid work) rates of sole parents, including those with children under 15. However, the lack of any discernible patterns of change make it quite clear that the policy changes cannot be based on these numbers. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16515/original/76dyq2n6-1350276073.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16515/original/76dyq2n6-1350276073.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16515/original/76dyq2n6-1350276073.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=224&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16515/original/76dyq2n6-1350276073.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=224&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16515/original/76dyq2n6-1350276073.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=224&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16515/original/76dyq2n6-1350276073.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16515/original/76dyq2n6-1350276073.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16515/original/76dyq2n6-1350276073.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lone parent families.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australian Bureau of Statistics</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first table, from the Labour Force survey clearly shows that the numbers of single mothers in employment increased between 2005 and 2006 by 21,000 before the changes were brought in. The next year after the change, the increase was less (under 19,000). The following year saw a quite small increase (not quite 8,000) then a slight drop in 2009. The numbers rose again in the last two years.</p>
<p>The 2006 changed eligibility was not clearly responsible for this pattern of employment. The unemployment rates for single mothers in the row below showed the number looking for work had also risen and fallen over the same time bracket in no particular pattern, and the total of sole parents not in the labour force also increased over the period.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16516/original/4bndfwd8-1350276367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16516/original/4bndfwd8-1350276367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/16516/original/4bndfwd8-1350276367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=36&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16516/original/4bndfwd8-1350276367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=36&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16516/original/4bndfwd8-1350276367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=36&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16516/original/4bndfwd8-1350276367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=45&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16516/original/4bndfwd8-1350276367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=45&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/16516/original/4bndfwd8-1350276367.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=45&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jobless sole parents with children under 15 years pf age.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second set of figures refer to the percentage of jobless sole parents with children under 15. The jobless percentage in 2005 was 46% but this dropped to 43.7% in 2006, and even lower to 36% in 2008. The figure then rose in 2009 to 39.8%, and hovered around this level for the next two years. On the basis of these figures, it is difficult to argue that the changes to policy have significantly affected the number of sole parents who are now in paid work.</p>
<p>The figures that state actual recipients of particular payments are not very useful indicators of change. People moved to other payment such as Carer’s Payment and the Disability Support Pension, both of which experienced an increase of female claimants when this change came in. Others, who were only part-payment recipients, simply lost eligibility and had their living standards reduced.</p>
<p>Therefore, it is hard for the ALP to claim that this change as an example of good, evidence-based policy making. It would seem that picking on groups based on social prejudices carries more weight in parliament than actual evidence. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10151/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eva Cox does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s no doubt that last week’s stoush between Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott over sexism and misogyny was extraordinary. But in spite of all the bluster, a comparison of each party’s policies might serve…Eva Cox, Professorial Fellow Jumbunna IHL, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.