During the last decade or so Australia has experienced high rates of economic
growth and low levels of unemployment, conditions that are expected to impact
favourably on working people at the lower end of the income distribution. But similar
conditions in other countries have been accompanied by unexpectedly high rates of
poverty among working people and their dependents. This paper investigates the
extent and nature of working poverty in Australia. Its aim is to determine whether or
not working poverty is the “new face of poverty in post-industrial Australia”.