The Australian Social Inclusion Board (ASIB) was established in May 2008. It is the main advisory body to the Australian Government on ways to achieve better outcomes for the most disadvantaged in the community and to improve the social inclusion in society as a whole. This report presents an overview of jobless families in Australia. In June 2010 there were 310,000 jobless families with children under 15 years in Australia and 580,000 children under 15 living in jobless families. Compared with other OECD countries, Australia has a relatively high rate of children living in jobless... [+] Show more
The Australian Social Inclusion Board (ASIB) was established in May 2008. It is the main advisory body to the Australian Government on ways to achieve better outcomes for the most disadvantaged in the community and to improve the social inclusion in society as a whole. This report presents an overview of jobless families in Australia. In June 2010 there were 310,000 jobless families with children under 15 years in Australia and 580,000 children under 15 living in jobless families. Compared with other OECD countries, Australia has a relatively high rate of children living in jobless families. The vast majority of jobless families are headed by single mothers. This report also considers the kinds of approaches needed to address social exclusion as it affects jobless families. It seeks to highlight some key examples of approaches that have succeeded and those that have failed, in Australia and internationally. ASIB research suggests that four key elements are integral to approaches likely to achieve the best results in supporting jobless families to increase their economic and social participation. These are: sustainability, customisation, achievability and accessibility. The report also considers the current employment services system, focussing in particular on Job Services Australia (JSA). It concludes that, despite JSA’s achievements and the fact that it is more likely than previous employment services systems to achieve positive outcomes for jobless families, JSA is not providing the kinds of support that the most disadvantaged Australians need to break into the employment market. ASIB’s view is that a more holistic, collaborative approach is needed to providing employment services to the most disadvantaged, such as many parents in jobless families. By providing incentives for cooperation, information and skills sharing between employment service providers (ESPs), it is ASIB’s hope that longer-lasting and better quality outcomes can be achieved.
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