Balancing work and family responsibilities is an increasingly significant concern not only for individual employees, their families and the broader community, but also for government and local communities.

However little attention has been paid to the different ways in which constraints and opportunities for work and family balance operate across industry in regional and rural Australia or how these differences might affect employee work and family balance outcomes. Nor has there been any detailed analysis of the ways in which local infrastructure, such as the operating hours of local services including kindergartens, public transport and local government services, might support or frustrate better work and family balance.

 The project aims were to identify:

• Major industry and employment characteristics as well as regional socio-demographic characteristics that might impact on work and family balance;
• Key infrastructure and local services that might support better work and family balance for local families;
• Key local work and family issues in relation to the challenges facing workers and those wanting to undertake paid work, families and employers in combining work and family responsibilities.