The idea that unemployment is the principal cause of poverty among those of workforce age has been a central finding of poverty research. Peter Saunders examines the links that exist between employment, unemployment, joblessness and poverty against the background of the growing diversity of labour market trends.

Despite its policy significance, the impact of disability has not featured prominently in the Australian empirical literature on household incomes and living standards. Peter Saunders examines how disability is associated with standard of living and its determinants (including labour force participation and the receipt of state transfers) using a range of available data, and reflects...

Peter Saunders and Peter Siminski examine the impact of home ownership on income distribution and the incidence of low-income using data from the Household Expenditure Surveys conducted in 1993–94 and 1998–99. Using the market value approach to derive an estimate of imputed rental income, they conclude that in 1998–99 imputed rent had an equalising distributional...

Peter Siminski and Peter Saunders present regional comparisons of income both before and after housing costs, derived from the latest (1998-99) Household Expenditure Survey and from the 2001 Census. Both sources indicate that while the percentage of people in low-income households is lower in major urban locations than in the rest of Australia, these differences...

In August 2001 the Australian Catholic University announced that its new General Staff Enterprise Bargaining Agreement included a provision for one year's paid maternity leave - 12 weeks on full pay and a further 40 weeks on 60 per cent pay. Denise Thompson Michael Bittman and Peter Saunders assess how that decision helped shape the...