Endnotes
1. Slower growth of the working-age population, in particular, is projected because of the dual effects of the 'baby boom' generation reaching retirement age and declining fertility. This is reflected in recent Access Economics (1999) projections, which indicate that the rate of growth of the working-age population may decline from 170 000 per annum today to only 125 000 for the whole of the decade of the 2020s.
2. Age cohort figures for DSP customer numbers include recipients of the Special Payment and Sickness Allowance.
3. This data is based on an ABS survey which excludes people living in institutions and does not fully capture social security payments. Thus, this estimate should be considered conservative. While not directly comparable, Centrelink administrative data suggests that the proportion reliant on income support for more than 50 per cent of their income is nearer to one in five, and the proportion reliant for 90 per cent of their income is about one in six.
4. Australia has the third highest rate of jobless families for both one-adult (57 per cent) and two-adult households with children (9 per cent). These rates have improved somewhat, but are still 54 per cent for lone-parent families and 7 per cent for couple families.
5. Commonwealth of Australia 2002, Building a Simpler System to Help Jobless Families and Individuals
6. However, in broad terms, women's labour market participation has been increasing over the past three decades, providing more people with greater opportunities to work and save for their retirement.
7. In general terms, payment of 30 per cent or more of income in housing costs has been regarded as indicating 'housing stress' for low-income households. This though is very much a 'rule of thumb' and ignores many factors, such as trade-offs between housing and other costs, and should only be used as an indicative reference point and not as an absolute benchmark.
8. The age at which women qualify for the Age Pension is gradually increasing. By 1 July 2013 it will be 65 years, the same as for men.