This article examines trends in social disadvantage in Australia over the decade to 2018 using two approaches: a monetary approach using poverty and a living standards approach using deprivation. We compare the two approaches, highlight their implications and assess whether the evidence produced by each is consistent with trickle-down effects. The estimates allow for variations in thresholds, the treatment of housing costs and relative and absolute measures. The findings indicate an overall decline in poverty that is dependent on the treatment of housing costs and a more consistent decline in deprivation but with little or no improvement for many experiencing poverty or deprivation. Poverty and deprivation among unemployed households were above those for people in other labour force states throughout the period and while these differentials have narrowed, the findings suggest that trickle-down effects did not reach many of those highly disadvantaged or are subject to long delays.
AtkinsonAB (1995) Incomes and the Welfare State. Essays on Britain and Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2.
AtkinsonABGuioA-CMarlierE (2017) Monitoring the evolution of income poverty and real incomes over time. In: AtkinsonABGuioA-CMarlierE (eds) Monitoring Social Inclusion in Europe. 2017 Edition. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, pp. 65–87.
3.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2009) Household Income and Income Distribution, Australia, 2007-08. Catalogue No. 6523.0. Canberra, ACT: ABS.
4.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2019) Household Income and Wealth. Australia, data download from 65230DO001_2017-18 Household Income and Wealth, Australia: Summary of Results, 2017–18. Canberra, ACT: ABS.
5.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2020) Household Income and Income Distribution, Australia, 2017-18, Catalogue No. 6523.0. Canberra, ACT: ABS.
6.
AzpitarteF (2014) Was pro-poor economic growth in Australia for the income-poor? And for the multidimensionally-poor?Social Indicators Research117(3): 871–905.
7.
AzpitarteFKalbG (2019) Measuring income poverty in Australia: A review of methods and recent trends. In: SaundersP (ed.) Revisiting Henderson: Poverty, Social Security and Basic Income. Melbourne, VIC: Melbourne University Press, pp. 163–187.
8.
BradburyBRossiterCVipondJ (1986) Poverty, before and after paying for housing. Reports and Proceedings No. 56. Sydney, NSW: Social Welfare Research Centre, University of New South Wales.
9.
BradburyBSaundersP (2021) Housing costs and poverty: Analysing recent Australian trends. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment. Epub ahead of print 15 September 2021. DOI: 10.1007/s10901-021-09899-w.
Commission of Inquiry into Poverty in Australia (1975) First Main Report. Poverty in Australia, Canberra, ACT: Australian Government Publishing Service.
12.
CorakM (2006) Principles and practicalities for measuring child poverty. International Social Security Review59(2): 3–35.
13.
DanzigerSGottschalkP (1986) Do rising tides lift all boats? The impact of secular and cyclical changes on poverty. American Economic Review76(2): 405–410.
14.
DavidsonPBradburyBWongM, et al. (2020a) Inequality in Australia, Part 1: Overview. Sydney, NSW: Australian Council of Social Service and UNSW.
15.
DavidsonPSaundersPBradburyM, et al. (2020b) Poverty in Australia 2020, part 1, overview, ACOSS/UNSW Poverty and Inequality Partnership report no. 3. Sydney, NSW: ACOSS.
16.
DermottEMainG (eds) (2018) Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK. Volume 1. The Nature and Extent of the Problem. Bristol: Policy Press.
17.
European Commission (2018) Living Conditions in Europe. 2018 Edition. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
18.
GuioA-CMarlierEGordonD, et al. (2016) Improving the measurement of material deprivation at the European level. Journal of European Social Policy26(3): 219–233.
19.
GordonD (2006) The concept and measurement of poverty. In: PantazisCGordonDLevitasR (eds) Poverty and Social Exclusion in Britain. The Millennium Survey. Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 29–69.
20.
GordonD (2017) PSE-UK 2012 Survey. Producing an ‘Objective’ Poverty Line in Eight Easy Steps, Poverty and Social Exclusion in the United Kingdom. Bristol: Economic and Social Research Council.
21.
GordonD (2018) Measuring poverty in the UK. In: DermottEMainG (eds) Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK. Volume 1 – The Nature and Extent of the Problem. Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 17–39.
22.
GordonDPantazisC (eds) (1997) Breadline Britain in the 1990s. Bristol: Policy Press.
23.
GutfleischTAndreβH-J (2020) Perceptions of society’s necessary standard of living: Are perceptions determined by what people have, or do they reflect a social consensus?Social Indicators Research149(1): 467–502.
24.
HoremansJMarxI (2017) Poverty and material deprivation among self-employed in Europe: An exploration of a relatively uncharted landscape. Discussion paper no. 11007. Bonn: IZA Institute of Economics.
25.
JenkinsSP (2016) The income distribution in the UK: A picture of advantage and disadvantage. In: DeanHPlattL (eds) Social Advantage and Disadvantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 135–160.
26.
KingA (1998) Income poverty since the early 1970s. In: FincherRNieuwenhuysenJ (eds) Australian Poverty. Then and Now. Melbourne, VIC: Melbourne University Press, pp. 71–102.
27.
KwonRSalcidoB (2019) Does a rising tide lift all boats? Liberalization and real incomes in advanced industrial societies. Social Science Research79(1): 127–140.
28.
LauMKWPantazisCGordonD, et al. (2017) Poverty in Hong Kong. In: LauMKWGordonD (eds) Poverty in a Rich Society. The Case of Hong Kong. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, pp. 21–55.
29.
MackJ (2018) Fifty years of poverty in the UK. In: BramleyNBaileyG (eds) Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK. Volume 2. The Dimensions of Disadvantage. Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 27–56.
30.
MackJLansleyS (1985) Poor Britain. London: George Allen and Unwin.
31.
MartinezAPeralesF (2017) The dynamics of multidimensional poverty in contemporary Australia. Social Indicators Research130(2): 479–496.
32.
NandySMainG (2015) The consensual approach to child poverty measurement. CROP Poverty Brief, November. Bergen: CROP, pp. 1–4.
33.
NolanBWhelanCT (1996) Resources, Deprivation and Poverty. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
34.
NolanBWhelanCT (2007) The multidimensionality of poverty and social exclusion. In: JenkinsSPMicklewrightJ (eds), Inequality and Poverty Re-examined. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 146–165.
35.
PantazisCGordonDLevitasR (eds) (2006) Poverty and Social Exclusion in Britain. The Millennium Survey. Bristol: Policy Press
36.
PatsiosD (2018) Improvement for some: Poverty and social exclusion among older people and pensioners. In: DermottEMainG (eds) Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK. Volume 1 – The Nature and Extent of the Problem. Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 61–93.
37.
PatsiosDPomatiMHillyardP (2018) Living standards in the UK. In: BramleyNBaileyG (eds) Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK. Volume 2. The Dimensions of Disadvantage. Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 57–89.
38.
QuigginJ (2010) Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk Among Us. Revised Edition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
39.
RavallionM (2016) The Economics of Poverty. History, Measurement and Policy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
40.
RingenS (1988) Direct and indirect measures of poverty. Journal of Social Policy17(2): 351–365.
41.
SaundersP (2018) Monitoring and addressing global poverty: A new approach and implications for Australia. The Economic and Labour Relations Review29(1): 9–23.
42.
SaundersPMathesonG (1991) An ever-rising tide? Poverty in Australia in the eighties. Economic and Labour Relations Review2(2): 143–171.
43.
SaundersPNaidooY (2009) Poverty, deprivation and consistent poverty. Economic Record85(271): 417–432.
44.
SaundersPNaidooY (2019) Poverty as relative deprivation: Application, analysis and implications for social security. In: SaundersP (ed.) Revisiting Henderson: Poverty, Social Security and Basic Income. Melbourne, VIC: Melbourne University Press, pp. 189–213.
45.
SaundersPNaidooY (2020) The overlap between income poverty and material deprivation: Sensitivity evidence for Australia. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice28(2): 187–206.
46.
SaundersPNaidooYWongM (2022a) Comparing the monetary and living standards approaches to poverty using the Australian experience. Social Indicators Research. Epub ahead of print 7 February 2022. DOI: 10.1007/s11205-022-02888-8.
47.
SaundersPNaidooYWongM (2022b) The crumbling pillar: Assessing the impact of housing costs on recent trends in poverty and deprivation in Australia. International Journal of Social Welfare, forthcoming.
48.
SaundersPWongM (2011) Pension adequacy and the pension review. The Economic and Labour Relations Review22(3): 7–26.
49.
ThrosbyD (2017) A rising tide raises all boats. In: FreyBIselinD (eds), Economic Ideas You Should Forget. Cham: Springer, pp. 149–150.
50.
TownsendP (1979) Poverty in the United Kingdom. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
51.
TownsendP (1987) Deprivation. Journal of Social Policy16(2): 125–146.
52.
WilkinsR (2014) Evaluating the evidence on income inequality in Australia in the 2000s. Economic Record90(288): 63–89.
53.
WilkinsR (2021) Household economic wellbeing. In: WilkinsRVera-ToscanoEBothaF, et al. (eds) The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey: Selected Findings From Waves 1 to 19. Melbourne, VIC: Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, the University of Melbourne, pp. 22–52.
