6224.0.55.001 - Labour Force, Australia: Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families, Jun 2011 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 28/09/2011   
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MEDIA RELEASE
28 September 2011
Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra Time)
118/2011

More than one in ten families with dependants were jobless in June 2011


ABS figures released today show that in June this year 10.5% of the 2.9 million families with dependants living in Australia were jobless, more than 1 in every 10. A figure that has remained relatively steady over the past few years.

The ABS reported there were 96,000 jobless couple families with dependants, making up 1 in every 24 couple families with dependants. In families where either or both partners were actively looking for work, almost 1 in 3 had been trying to find work for more than a year.

There were also 210,000 single parent families with dependants that were jobless, about one third of all single parent families with dependants. Of those looking for work, 23% had been jobless for more than a year. A large majority (90%) were headed by single mothers.

There were 530,000 children younger than 15 living in jobless families.

The proportion of couple families with dependants in which one or both partners were employed was 94% in June 2011, reported the ABS. In opposite-sex couple families, 90% had fathers that were employed and 67% had mothers that were employed. Most fathers were in full-time employment whereas the percentage of mothers in full-time employment differed depending on the age of their youngest child: 18% of mothers with 0 - 4 year olds were employed full-time, compared with 42% of mothers with 15 - 24 year olds.

Less than half (43%) of the 1.3 million dependent students studying full-time and still living with their parents in June were employed.

In June 2011, there were an estimated 6.4 million families living in Australia with a total of 19 million family members, reported the ABS. An estimated 3.4 million people were not living with family and of those 60% lived alone.

More details are available in the June 2011 issue of Labour Force, Australia: Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families (cat. no. 6224.0.55.001) available for free download from the ABS website <www.abs.gov.au>


Media notes:
  • When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) as the source.