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Balancing Work and Family

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Balancing Work and Family The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia Balancing Work and Family Report on the inquiry into balancing work and family House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Human Services December 2006 Canberra © Commonwealth of Australia 2006 ISBN 0 642 78873 1 (printed version) ISBN 0 642 78874 X (HTML version) Printed by CanPrint Communications Pty Ltd, Canberra. Cover design by Lisa McDonald, Department of the House of Representatives Printing and Publishing Office, Canberra. Contents Foreword.............................................................................................................................................ix Postscript ...................................................................................................................................xv Membership of the Committee ..........................................................................................................xix Terms of reference............................................................................................................................xxi List of abbreviations .........................................................................................................................xxii List of recommendations ................................................................................................................. xxiii Overview of the inquiry................................................................................................................... xxvii Conduct of the inquiry........................................................................................................ xxvii Structure of the report....................................................................................................... xxviii 1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................1 Social change in Australia........................................................................................................ 1 Distribution of human capital....................................................................................................... 2 Trends in labour force participation............................................................................................. 5 Changes to families and households .......................................................................................... 9 Trends in fertility rates............................................................................................................... 13 Fertility decision-making............................................................................................................ 15 Ageing population ..................................................................................................................... 18 Work and family debate..........................................................................................................22 Who is affected by work and family stress? .............................................................................. 22 Role of fathers........................................................................................................................... 28 Can people work and enjoy their families?................................................................................ 31 iv 2 Taxation and Government assistance to families............................................39 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 39 Australia and the OECD............................................................................................................ 39 Government’s policy goals ........................................................................................................ 41 Growth in assistance................................................................................................................. 42 More families are receiving transfer payments.......................................................................... 43 Government payments to families......................................................................................... 44 General payments to families....................................................................................................45 Payments for specific circumstances ........................................................................................ 51 Payments to help with the cost of child care ............................................................................. 53 Payments for carers and those who need care......................................................................... 60 Payments for the elderly ........................................................................................................... 63 Other payments for families and carers .................................................................................... 65 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 68 3 Family taxation ....................................................................................................69 Personal income taxation....................................................................................................... 69 Taxation measures relevant to families and carers ............................................................. 70 Child Care Tax Rebate.............................................................................................................. 71 Tax offsets ................................................................................................................................ 71 Effective marginal tax rates....................................................................................................... 73 Fringe benefits tax exemption for employer-provided child care....................................... 76 Tax deductibility status of child care .................................................................................... 84 Goods and Services Tax (GST) treatment of child care....................................................... 86 4 Starting families..................................................................................................89 Financial disincentives to starting a family .......................................................................... 90 Loss of salary and wages.......................................................................................................... 90 Superannuation......................................................................................................................... 92 Cost of raising children.............................................................................................................. 93 HECS debts .............................................................................................................................. 95 Housing costs............................................................................................................................ 98 Child care................................................................................................................................ 100 Career disincentives to starting a family ............................................................................ 103 v Loss of career path ................................................................................................................. 103 Reduced training and professional development .................................................................... 105 Social disincentives to starting a family ............................................................................. 106 Families devalued ................................................................................................................... 106 Increased life risks .................................................................................................................. 107 Gender roles ........................................................................................................................... 109 Explaining fertility rates ....................................................................................................... 111 International comparisons ....................................................................................................... 111 Factors in fertility decisions in Australia .................................................................................. 114 Age and delays in partnering................................................................................................... 116 Partnering in the future............................................................................................................ 122 Quality of the relationship........................................................................................................ 123 Recent changes to Australia’s fertility rate .............................................................................. 128 5 Returning to paid work .....................................................................................131 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 131 Employment rates for women.............................................................................................
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