Travail to No Avail? Workin Poverty in Australia

Abstract

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”.