tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/hilda-2017-41279/articlesHILDA 2017 – The Conversation2017-08-02T03:04:49Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/816182017-08-02T03:04:49Z2017-08-02T03:04:49ZHere’s why it’s so hard to say whether inequality is going up or down<p>Is inequality rising or falling? The answer, if <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottMorrisonMP/status/889630893383536640">recent</a> public <a href="https://twitter.com/ALeighMP/status/890084445159665667">debate</a> is anything to go by, may appear at first to depend on who you ask. </p>
<p>Part of the reason why we get such conflicting narratives about whether economic inequality is rising or falling is that it can be measured in different ways, using different data sets. </p>
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<p>And you might get a different answer depending on whether you’re talking about <em>income</em> inequality or <em>wealth</em> inequality. Income is the flow of economic resources over a certain period, while wealth is the stock of resources built up over time.</p>
<p>We can draw some insights from the newly released <a href="http://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/hilda/publications/hilda-statistical-reports">Household Incomes and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) 2017 report</a>, which reveals the latest results of a longitudinal study that has been running since 2001. </p>
<p>But it doesn’t show the whole story. Combining HILDA’s results with data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6523.0">income surveys</a> gives a more comprehensive picture of trends in economic inequality in Australia.</p>
<h2>HILDA data show lower income inequality than the ABS</h2>
<p>Firstly, you need to know that when we are talking about income, most people are referring to the disposable income of the <em>household</em>, not individuals.</p>
<p>That’s all the income that members of a household receive from various sources, minus tax. You can then then adjust for the number of people in the household, accounting for the differing needs of adults and children, to get what economists call “equivalised household disposable income”.</p>
<p>The HILDA Survey, funded by the Department of Social Services and conducted by the Melbourne Institute, has followed some 17,000 individuals every year since 2001. (The most recent <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6523.0">ABS income survey</a> final sample consists of 14,162 households, comprising 27,339 persons aged 15 years old and over.)</p>
<p>One commonly used way to measure inequality is called the Gini coefficient, which varies between zero (where all households have exactly the same income) and one (where only one household has all the income). The Gini coefficient for equivalised household disposable income varies between about 0.244 in Iceland to 0.397 in the United States (with most other high-income OECD countries falling between these two levels), but is as high as 0.46 in Mexico and 0.57 in South Africa. </p>
<p>The latest HILDA report puts Australia’s Gini coefficient at 0.296 and notes that it has “remained at approximately 0.3 over the entire 15 years of the HILDA Survey”.</p>
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<p>The HILDA surveys show a lower level of income inequality than the ABS figures do. Some of the differences between these estimates will reflect the broader definition of income used by the ABS, and the significant changes in this definition over time. </p>
<p>In a sense, the HILDA longitudinal survey is like a video where the same people are interviewed every year, whereas the ABS surveys are like a snapshot of the Australian population taken every two years.</p>
<p>But there are also problems with longitudinal surveys because participants often drop out of the survey over time. Also the survey is based on people who were living in Australia in 2001, thus leaving out immigrants who have arrived since then. While the survey has refreshed the sample in 2011 to address this problem, this attrition may reduce the representativeness of the sample. In addition, the sample size of the ABS surveys is about 50% greater than HILDA, which will reduce sampling errors.</p>
<h2>ABS data show inequality has risen</h2>
<p>The ABS has conducted <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6523.0">income surveys</a> since the late 1960s, although it is only surveys since 1982 that are comprehensive and available for public analysis. These ABS surveys are also used in most of the international data sources that compare income inequality across countries – <a href="http://www.oecd.org/social/income-distribution-database.htm">the OECD Income Distribution database</a> and the <a href="http://www.lisdatacenter.org/">Luxembourg Income Survey</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6523.0">ABS data</a> show a clear increase in both wealth and income inequality over the mid- to long run.</p>
<p>The chart below shows two long series of estimates from the ABS surveys – those published in 2006 by researchers David Johnson and Roger Wilkins (who now oversees the HILDA Survey) from 1981-82 to 1996-97, and official figures prepared by the ABS, from 1994-95 to 2013-14.</p>
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<p>Despite the differences in income measures and equivalence scales, the long-run trend from the ABS figures is clear.</p>
<p>There are periods in which inequality fell, but overall inequality rose over the whole period - including in the most recent period to 2013-14. The Gini coefficient in 2013-14 is a little lower than its peak just before the Global Financial Crisis, but the difference is not large.</p>
<p>True, the ABS’s survey methodology has changed over the years but these changes should not have an effect after 2007-08, as income definitions haven’t changed in a major way since then.</p>
<h2>Wealth is much more unequally distributed than income</h2>
<p>The ABS also publishes information on the distribution of net worth - that’s household assets minus liabilities. Wealth is much more unequally distributed than income. </p>
<p>According to the ABS, the Gini coefficient for net worth in 2013-14 was 0.605 (compared to a Gini coefficient for income of 0.333). This is a clear increase from a Gini of 0.573 in 2003-04.</p>
<p>Put another way, ABS data show a high-income household in the richest 20% of the income distribution has an income around 5.4 times as much as the average household in the bottom 20% of the income distribution, as this chart demonstrates:</p>
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<p>In contrast, ABS data show that households in the richest 20% of the distribution of net worth have average wealth of around $2.5 million, or more than 70 times higher than the average net worth held by households in the bottom 20% of the wealth distribution, as this chart demonstrates:</p>
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<p>Somewhat surprisingly, however, the <a href="https://www.credit-suisse.com/corporate/en/research/research-institute/global-wealth-report.html">Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report</a> puts wealth inequality in Australia at below the world average (and the mean and median levels of net worth at among the highest in the world).</p>
<p>This largely reflects the still high level of home ownership in Australia and the high levels of wealth in home ownership, which accounts for nearly half of total net worth on average.</p>
<h2>Reconciling conflicting trends</h2>
<p>While these two major sources of data show conflicting trends on income inequality, the ABS sample size is much greater. Ultimately, however, the reasons for the differences between the findings of the ABS and the HILDA survey are not obvious. </p>
<p>One way forward would be for the ABS and the Melbourne Institute to jointly analyse the differences between their findings to identify why their estimates of inequality diverge. </p>
<hr>
<p>This piece is <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/hilda-2017-41279">part of a series</a> on the recent release of HILDA Survey data.</p>
<p>Read more:</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/men-still-prefer-mothers-to-stay-at-home-12-charts-on-attitudes-to-work-and-family-81897"><em>Men still prefer mothers to stay at home: 12 charts on attitudes to work and family</em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/australians-want-more-children-than-they-have-so-are-we-in-the-midst-of-a-demographic-crisis-81547"><em>Australians want more children than they have, so are we in the midst of a demographic crisis?</em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/pokies-sport-and-racing-harm-41-of-monthly-gamblers-hilda-81486"><em>Pokies, sport and racing harm 41% of monthly gamblers: survey</em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/home-ownership-falling-debts-rising-its-looking-grim-for-the-under-40s-81619"><em>Home ownership falling, debts rising – it’s looking grim for the under 40s</em></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81618/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Whiteford has received funding from the Australian Research Council and from the European Commission for work on inequality. He is affiliated with the Centre for Policy Development.</span></em></p>The two major sources of data show conflicting trends on income inequality.Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/816192017-08-01T20:16:01Z2017-08-01T20:16:01ZHome ownership falling, debts rising – it’s looking grim for the under 40s<p>Home ownership among young people is declining, as mortgage debt almost doubles for the same age group, results from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey show. It also shows young people are living with their parents longer. </p>
<p>The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research undertakes the survey every year. It’s Australia’s only nationally representative household longitudinal study, and has followed the same individuals and households since 2001.</p>
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<p>The survey shows the rate of home ownership among 18 to 39 year olds declined from 36% in 2002 to 25% in 2014. In the same age group, the decline in home ownership has been largest for families with dependent children, falling from 56% to 39%. </p>
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<p>Even for those in this group who manage to buy a home, mortgage debt has risen dramatically. In 2002, 89% of home owners in this age range had mortgage debt. By 2014 this had risen to 94%. </p>
<p>More significantly, the average home debt rose considerably. Expressed in December 2015 prices, average home debt grew from about A$169,000 in 2002 to about A$337,000 in 2014. Low interest rates since the global financial crisis have meant mortgage repayments for these home owners have remained manageable, but this group is very vulnerable to rate rises. </p>
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<p>Detailed wealth data in the survey, collected every four years since 2002, show this increase in debt and decrease in ownership are part of a trend in the wider population. HILDA shows 65% of households were in owner-occupied dwellings in 2015, down from 69% in 2001.</p>
<p>In fact, the decline in home ownership has been greater than the decline in owner-occupied households. This is largely because adult children are living with their parents for longer.</p>
<p>For example, the HILDA data show that the proportion of women aged 22 to 25 living with their parents rose from 28% in 2001 to 48% in 2015. For men this proportion rose from 42% to 60%.</p>
<p>Among those who manage to access the housing market, the data shows that the growth in home debt is not simply because they are borrowing more to purchase their home. A surprisingly high proportion of young home owners (between 30% and 40%) actually increase their debt from one year to the next, despite most of them remaining in the same home. Even over a four-year period - for example, from 2010 to 2014 - at least 40% of young home owners with a mortgage increase their nominal home debt.</p>
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<p>The proportion of people with home debt that exceeds the value of their home – that is, negative equity – has also risen. In 2002, 2.4% of people had negative equity in their home; in 2014, 3.9% had negative equity. This is a relatively small proportion, but this could change as even small decreases in house prices will result in substantial increases in the prevalence of negative equity.</p>
<h2>How this changes with location, income and profession</h2>
<p>In 2014, less than 20% of Sydneysiders aged 18 to 39 were home owners, compared with 36% or more in the ACT, urban Northern Territory and non-urban regions of Australia. To a significant extent this reflects differences across regions in house prices. </p>
<p>Sydney and Melbourne have <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6416.0Mar%202017?OpenDocument">particularly high house prices</a>, while non-urban areas generally have comparatively low house prices. Regional differences in the incomes of 18 to 39 year olds also play a role. </p>
<p>Those with the highest home-ownership rates are professionals and, to a lesser extent, managers. They experienced relatively little decline in home ownership. </p>
<p>For workers in other occupations, home ownership has declined substantially. In 2014 home ownership was especially rare among community and personal services workers, sales workers and labourers.</p>
<p>This decline represents profound social change among this age group, where renting is increasingly becoming the dominant form of housing. In 2002, 61% of people aged 35 to 39 were home owners – a clear majority of their age group. By 2014, this proportion had fallen to 48%.</p>
<p>The changing housing situation of young adults is part of a broader change in the distribution of wealth in Australia. The HILDA Survey shows that differences in average wealth by age have grown since 2002. For example, in 2002, median net wealth of those aged 65 and over was 2.8 times that of people aged 25 to 34. In 2014, this ratio had increased to 4.5. </p>
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<p>The decline in home ownership among young adults and this broader trend in wealth have implications for their long-term economic wellbeing and indeed for the retirement income system. Even if house price growth moderates and many of those currently aged under 40 ultimately enter the housing market, it’s likely that a rising proportion will not have paid off the mortgage by the time they retire. It may be that many will resort to drawing on superannuation balances to repay home loans, in turn increasing demands on the Age Pension.</p>
<hr>
<p>This piece is <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/hilda-2017-41279">part of a series</a> on the recent release of HILDA survey data.</p>
<p>Read more:</p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/australians-want-more-children-than-they-have-so-are-we-in-the-midst-of-a-demographic-crisis-81547"><em>Australians want more children than they have, so are we in the midst of a demographic crisis?</em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/pokies-sport-and-racing-harm-41-of-monthly-gamblers-hilda-81486"><em>Pokies, sport and racing harm 41% of monthly gamblers: survey</em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/12-charts-on-what-our-work-and-family-life-looks-like-81897"><em>Men still prefer mothers to stay at home: 12 charts on attitudes to work and family</em></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81619/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger Wilkins receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>HILDA survey results show home ownership among young people is declining, as mortgage debt almost doubles for the same age group.Roger Wilkins, Professorial Research Fellow and Deputy Director (Research), HILDA Survey, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/815472017-08-01T20:15:42Z2017-08-01T20:15:42ZAustralians want more children than they have, so are we in the midst of a demographic crisis?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179946/original/file-20170727-25687-1ptwws4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australian women are having two or fewer babies over their life-course.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Robert McGrath</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australians want more children than they actually have, according to newly released data collected as part of the <a href="http://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/2437426/HILDA-SR-med-res.pdf">Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey</a>. </p>
<p>Analysing data over 15 years, the study reports that by age 40, Australian men and women desire 1.5 more children than they actually have. Women are also having children at later ages than previous cohorts: only 30% of Australian men and women report having their desired number of children by age 35.</p>
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<p>The delaying of fertility, which is common in most Western industrial nations, indicates that women are having fewer children later in life. But without adequate planning and preparation on fertility issues, Australia will be left behind.</p>
<h2>What declining fertility rates mean</h2>
<p>Australia’s fertility rate has been below replacement level since the 1970s. Women are having <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/3301.0%7E2011%7EMain+Features%7EFertility+rates?OpenDocument">fewer than two babies</a> over their life course.</p>
<p>Sub-replacement fertility is important for governments. Entitlements are skewed to the old and young, which requires a robust middle-aged workforce to support these dependent populations. </p>
<p>Without two children to eventually support their two ageing parents through tax dollars and direct care, governments have insufficient resources to meet their dependent populations’ economic and care demands.</p>
<p>South Korea has historically had low sub-replacement fertility rates. In response, its government offers women money to have babies. This strategy has proven ineffective: the country’s fertility rate remains at <a href="https://www.google.com.au/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=sp_dyn_tfrt_in&idim=country:KOR:JPN:USA&hl=en&dl=en">1.24 births per woman</a>. </p>
<p>South Korean women cite long work hours and insufficient child care as the main reasons for limiting their family size. Token government contributions are <a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/s-korea-short-of-babies-despite-govt-efforts">insufficient to meet these demands</a>. </p>
<p>Japan’s demographic crisis is even more startling. Its population is expected to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/11/japans-population-shrink-third-2065/">shrink by one-third by 2065</a>, jeopardising the country’s long-term <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/japan-fertility-crisis-2017-4?r=US&IR=T">economic and social future</a>. </p>
<p>Without sufficient births or the opening of borders to working-age immigrants, sub-replacement fertility rates will wreak havoc on the economic and social futures of these countries. Is Australia on a similar crash course?</p>
<p>The Australian government has historically had a more open policy on immigration than Japan: it increases the intake of working-aged people to support the economy. Yet <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-18/government-abolishing-457-visas/8450310">current government policy</a> aimed at closing borders suggests this approach might shift. Given our declining fertility rates, this might have long-term economic and social consequences.</p>
<p>Australia also has a very limited welfare state to support working families, while workplace norms emphasise long work hours. Mothers in Australia are most likely to reduce to part-time work when children are preschool-aged: Australian women report some of the highest part-time employment rates <a href="https://data.oecd.org/emp/part-time-employment-rate.htm">in the world</a>.</p>
<p>The Australian workplace has also failed to meet the demands of modern families. Few offer reduced work time and flexible work arrangements to working parents. Australian workers report some of the <a href="https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ANHRS">longest weekly work hours</a> in the world, imposing time demands that are often incompatible with raising children.</p>
<p>The Australian government has also inadequately tackled the economic challenges of working parents through affordable child care and expansive leave. The lack of viable institutional support for working families imposes two options: have fewer children or reduce work time.</p>
<p>In Australia, it appears mothers are doing both. </p>
<h2>A challenge for government</h2>
<p>The shift in the definition of a “good” parent also contributes to having fewer than desired children. </p>
<p>Australian parents today report spending more time with children than in the 1970s, yet <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02614367.2011.573570">most parents report</a> they are not giving children enough time. This has led to the rise of “anxious parenting”, with norms of “good” parents emphasising an unconditional and unrelenting transfer of time, money and energy to their child. In other words, parenting is <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/177514883/The-Ideology-of-Intensive-Mothering">supposed to be intense</a>.</p>
<p>The insatiable time demands of children and work have led to an increase in reports of work-family conflict, and for some <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Greedy_institutions_patterns_of_undivide.html?id=SVpCAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">to describe</a> work and family as “greedy”. While some have long identified the incompatibility of work and family demands, one cannot fully understand the intense time demands children bring until your two-year-old has spilled an entire box of Rice Bubbles on the floor exactly when you are leaving for work.</p>
<p>It is no wonder, then, that people over-estimate the number of children they expect to have.</p>
<p>Children bring great joy, enrichment and hilarity, yet the demands of modern children and work are contradictory. Without adequate policies to support parents, including those who work, the gap between desired and actual births will remain and possibly grow.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/12/want-to-fight-climate-change-have-fewer-children">some have argued</a> that reducing fertility is key to reducing global warming, persistent declining fertility rates will pose important challenges for governments as populations continue to age.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This piece is <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/hilda-2017-41279">part of a series</a> on the recent release of HILDA survey data.</em></p>
<p><em>Read more:</em></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/home-ownership-falling-debts-rising-its-looking-grim-for-the-under-40s-81619"><em>Home ownership falling, debts rising – it’s looking grim for the under 40s</em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/pokies-sport-and-racing-harm-41-of-monthly-gamblers-hilda-81486"><em>Pokies, sport and racing harm 41% of monthly gamblers: survey</em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/12-charts-on-what-our-work-and-family-life-looks-like-81897"><em>Men still prefer mothers to stay at home: 12 charts on attitudes to work and family</em></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81547/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leah Ruppanner receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Australia will be left behind without adequate planning and preparation on fertility issues.Leah Ruppanner, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/814862017-08-01T20:15:28Z2017-08-01T20:15:28ZPokies, sport and racing harm 41% of monthly gamblers: survey<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180302/original/file-20170731-15340-1n7fp71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">About 39.1% of Australians typically gamble on a monthly basis: most of them buy lottery products.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Mick Tsikas</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the first time, the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey has turned its attention to gambling, revealing that around 1.4 million Australians are directly harmed by the activity.</p>
<h2>What did HILDA find?</h2>
<p>Australian adults <a href="http://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/products/reports/aus-gambling-stats/">spend $A1,240</a> on gambling per year. This is well above <a href="https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/02/daily-chart-4">global averages</a>, and nearly twice as much as the next country on the list.</p>
<p>HILDA shows most Australians are not very regular gamblers. About 39.1% of Australians typically gamble on a monthly basis. Most of them buy lottery products.</p>
<p>However, for those who do engage with more harmful gambling products, such as poker machines and wagering, the results are troubling. HILDA confirms that rates of harm among people gambling monthly on specific harmful products are much higher than for more benign lottery products.</p>
<p>Among the overall population, HILDA data suggest that about 1.1% of the adult population – about 200,000 people – score eight or more on the <a href="https://www.problemgambling.ca/EN/ResourcesForProfessionals/pages/problemgamblingseverityindexpgsi.aspx">Problem Gambling Severity Index</a> (a screening tool for gambling problems). These people are generally categorised in Australia as “problem gamblers”. </p>
<p>HILDA’s estimates are higher than most recent <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.13216/full">prevalence studies</a>, which use telephone interviews. HILDA uses face-to-face interviews involving quite sophisticated interviewing techniques. It’s thus likely to be more reliable than other <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-017-4413-6">prevalence studies</a>.</p>
<p>Regardless, <a href="https://www.responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au/information-and-resources/research/recent-research/assessing-gambling-related-harm-in-victoria-a-public-health-perspective">new evidence</a> suggests that problem gambling is not limited to those who score eight or more on the Problem Gambling Severity Index. In total, more harm accrues to people in the “moderate” and “low” risk groups. That’s because there are many more people in those groups, and all experience some degree of harm.</p>
<p>The HILDA survey shows that another 8% of the Australian population experience some harm from gambling.</p>
<p>For each “problem gambler”, six other people <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14459795.2017.1331252">are affected</a>. For each “moderate risk” gambler, about three others are affected. And for each “low risk” gambler, an additional person is affected.</p>
<p>If these estimates are applied to the HILDA data, this suggests gambling adversely affects more than 3.3 million Australians, in addition to the 1.4 million directly affected.</p>
<p>The most harmful forms of gambling for monthly gamblers are poker, casino games and private betting. However, these activities are rare. Just 1% or so of the population typically gamble in these ways monthly. Thus the estimates of the harm incurred by these types of gambling are unreliable, although certainly high. </p>
<p>Gambling on lotteries is clearly a much less risky pastime. Those who typically gamble on lotteries monthly have a “problem gambler” rate only marginally higher than the overall population (1.2%), and 86.8% experience no gambling harms. Harm to this group may accrue from other forms of gambling rather than from lotteries. </p>
<p>Of those who typically use poker machines monthly, however, estimates are more robust. Among the 8% of adults who typically use pokies once a month or more, 6.2% are categorised as “problem gamblers”, and another 35.3% experience some level of harm. </p>
<p>About 3% of the adult population typically bet on sports monthly. This group has a “problem gambler” rate of 6.7%, along with another 34.2% who experience some level of harm. A similar pattern emerges with horse or dog wagering. Of this group, 5.2% are serious problem gamblers and 35.9% are harmed to some extent.</p>
<p>Thus, of monthly pokie users, 41.5% experience at least some harm. For those who bet on sports, it’s 40.9%. And for those who bet on racing, 41.1% experience harm.</p>
<h2>HILDA and pokies</h2>
<p>HILDA also asked people about their enjoyment of life. The results demonstrate that those experiencing gambling harm generally have a lower average score for this than those who don’t. Enjoyment of life for those scoring eight or more on the Problem Gambling Severity Index is, unsurprisingly, below those in other categories.</p>
<p>This is an important finding. Pokies in particular are concentrated in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/16066359.2012.727507">areas of stress</a> – places where people are socioeconomically disadvantaged or experiencing stress of other kinds.</p>
<p>For example, outer-suburban areas often have a significant concentration of pokies and high losses. People in these suburbs are not necessarily socioeconomically disadvantaged. They may, however, experience stress from such phenomena as long travel times, the difficulties of managing two-income families, significant mortgages, and childcare issues. </p>
<p>It is probable that pokies are concentrated in stressed areas because they provide some relief for people living under difficult or stressful circumstances. HILDA provides some support for this view. </p>
<p>Causality for reduced enjoyment of life and gambling harm may be difficult to disentangle. But as HILDA progresses, we can expect to see a finer-grained view of gambling harm and its demographic distribution. This will provide a much-improved tool for regulators and policymakers to consider how to reduce harm.</p>
<p>The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation recently rejected an application for additional pokies in a <a href="https://www.vcglr.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/Noble_Park_Football_Social_Club_-_EGM_increase_-_Decision_and_reasons_for_decision.pdf">southeast Melbourne local government area</a>. It did this in substantial part because <a href="https://theconversation.com/areas-with-more-poker-machines-have-higher-rates-of-domestic-violence-66982">evidence demonstrated</a> a relationship between intimate partner violence and pokie concentration: the more spent on pokies, the greater the incidence of such violence.</p>
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<h2>Using data to inform decisions</h2>
<p>Because HILDA collects data across multiple domains, it will allow researchers to examine the correlates of gambling, and explore how these relate to gambling behaviour and harms.</p>
<p>The reverse of this is also true. Gambling has impacts on many aspects of life – including employment, income and wealth.</p>
<p>The HILDA report provides a summary of key findings. However, continuing to ask about gambling over time will allow a better understanding of how people engage and disengage with gambling activities. It will also support a better understanding of how, and in what circumstances, gambling harm accrues. </p>
<p>As better and more detailed data are collected, regulatory decision-making and policy development can be significantly enhanced.</p>
<p>We now have a better understanding of how much harm gambling causes. HILDA can improve our understanding of where this is concentrated, what forms are most likely to cause it, and how it can be prevented or minimised.</p>
<p>Such a mainstreaming of gambling data collection will help maximise the benefits that gambling may provide, while minimising the harms. That represents a significant development.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This piece is <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/hilda-2017-41279">part of a series</a> on the recent release of HILDA survey data.</em></p>
<p><em>Read more:</em></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/home-ownership-falling-debts-rising-its-looking-grim-for-the-under-40s-81619"><em>Home ownership falling, debts rising – it’s looking grim for the under 40s</em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/australians-want-more-children-than-they-have-so-are-we-in-the-midst-of-a-demographic-crisis-81547"><em>Australians want more children than they have, so are we in the midst of a demographic crisis?</em></a></p>
<p><a href="http://theconversation.com/12-charts-on-what-our-work-and-family-life-looks-like-81897"><em>Men still prefer mothers to stay at home: 12 charts on attitudes to work and family</em></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81486/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Livingstone has received funding from the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, the (former) Victorian Gambling Research Panel, and the South Australian Independent Gambling Authority (the funds for which were derived from hypothecation of gambling tax revenue to research purposes), from the Australian and New Zealand School of Government, and from non-government organisations for research into multiple aspects of poker machine gambling, including regulatory reform, existing harm minimisation practices, and technical characteristics of gambling forms. He has received travel and co-operation grants from the Alberta Problem Gambling Research Institute, the Finnish Institute for Public Health, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Committee, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. He is a Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council funded project researching mechanisms of influence on government by the tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries. He has undertaken consultancy research for local governments and non-government organisations in Australia and the UK seeking to restrict or reduce the concentration of poker machines and gambling impacts, and was a member of the Australian government's Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling in 2010-11. He is a member of the Australian Greens. </span></em></p>Gambling has impacts on many aspects of life – including employment, income and wealth. The release of HILDA’s latest survey provides more evidence to help inform decisions on gambling policy.Charles Livingstone, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.