Sole parent families in Australia

This paper provides a descriptive account of sole parent families in Australia. Its aim is essentially to provide data on the numbers and circumstances of sole parent families, describe how they are treated within the Australian social security system, explain some recent income support reforms for sole parents, and consider how sole parents fare in the labour market. First, the circumstances of sole parent families are explored, specifically those relating to their number and type, income levels and composition and poverty status. The following section briefly describes income support arrangements for sole parent families in Australia and how these have been reformed in recent years in order to meet the challenges posed by the growth in numbers and expenditures. There follows an outline of the employment and labour force status of sole parents and how these have been changing as the labour market has evolved over the last two decades. The main conclusions of the paper are briefly summarized in the final section.