Employment of Public Housing Residents in Australian Cities

Abstract

This article explores the current employment status of people who live in public housing in Australian cities, and asks how this has changed over the past 30 years? The data sources for this article are the 1981, 1996 and 2011 ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) Census of Population and Housing. It summarises the contextual factors that have influenced public tenant employment participation over the previous 30 years. The overall employment trends for Australia then are set out, followed by an analysis of public tenant workforce participation at a metropolitan and sub-metropolitan scale for the east coast capital cities. The main finding is that the rate of public housing tenant employment is higher in many locations than might be expected, and is also subject to significant variation both between cities and regions and within cities. The article concludes with a discussion of the empirical work's implications for the future of public housing in Australia.

本文考察澳大利亚公房住户目前的就业状况，及其近 30 年来的变化。本文数据取自 1981 年、 1996 年和 2011 年澳大利亚统计局人口和住房普查。文章总结了过去 30 年来影响公屋住户参与 就业的环境因素，确定了澳大利亚就业的总体趋势，并分析了西海岸一线城市和二线城市公屋住 户的劳动参与状况。本文的主要结论是，公屋住户就业率在很多地方高于预期，而且城市、地区 之间和之内都有差别。本文最后探讨了这一实证研究对澳大利亚今后公共住房的影响。

Keywords::

• Public housing
• employment

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to Professor Terry Burke for his comments on an earlier draft of this article.