Paul Flatau

Mental Health and Wellbeing and Unemployment

This article examines the relationship between mental health and wellbeing and unemployment utilising the 1995 National Health Survey (1995 NHS) and the 1997 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing of Adults (1997 SMHWB) data sets. Three indicators of mental health and wellbeing are adopted. The first is a psychological wellbeing measure derived from responses to questions included in the 1995 NHS on time felt down, happy, peaceful, and nervous (the SF-36 mental health scale). The second indicator relates to diagnoses of mental disorders including substance use disorders, affective disorders and anxiety disorders. Our final indicator relates to suicidal thoughts and plans and (unsuccessful) suicide attempts. On the basis of these measures, unemployed persons exhibit poorer mental health and wellbeing outcomes than the full-time employed.

Leaving the parental home in Australia over the generations: Evidence from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (Hilda) Survey

The decision to remain in or leave the parental home represents the first housing career choice of young people. In this paper, we examine the parental home leaving outcomes for Australian birth cohorts in the twentieth century using recall questions contained in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. The findings from survival analysis and hazard function modelling is that a continuous, gradual reduction in the age of first leaving the parental home in Australia is evident up to the 1947–51 birth cohort, followed by stability and then a rise in age of first leaving home for the most recent birth cohorts. Birth cohort effects remain significant even after other measured determinants of parental home leaving are taken into account. The paper confirms the strong roles that education, family background and ethnicity have on parental home leaving outcomes.

Comprehensive Income Measures, Housing Equity, and Tax-Transfer Effects

Cash income is widely recognised as a deficient measure of income, as it takes no account of the contribution of net worth to consumption potential. Housing equity is a particularly important component of net worth. Comprehensive income measures incorporate housing equity by adding its annuitized value to cash income. However, such an approach fails to take into account adverse tax-transfer effects on conversion of housing equity. As such, the contribution of housing equity to potential consumption is significantly exaggerated. A net comprehensive income measure, which directly incorporates the tax-transfer effects from housing equity conversion, is introduced. Simulation exercises are conducted, to demonstrate the importance of taking into account tax-transfer effects when measuring the comprehensive income of those homeowner income units in receipt of government pensions and benefits. Copyright 2000 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd/University of Adelaide and Flinders University of South Australia

Segmented labour markets in Australia

The concept and measurement of segmented labour markets has received little attention in Australia. Here, a method for establishing a taxonomy of occupaions according to characteristics associated with the segmented labour market hypothesis is presented. Using this taxonomy the distribution of workers in Australia according to gender, migrant status and trade union membershipis examined.

Job Insecurity and Mental Health Outcomes: An Analysis Using Waves 1 and 2 of HILDA

The issue of job insecurity and its impact on employees sense of well-being remains an under-researched topic. The objective of this paper is to utilise the HILDA dataset to show how job insecurity impacts on mental health outcomes. An important feature of the HILDA survey is that it enables an examination of the relationship between the level of job insecurity and mental health outcomes at a given point in time as well as how changes over time in job insecurity impact on mental health outcomes for the employed. The results suggest that a strong and significant relationship exists between job insecurity and employee mental health outcomes.

Poverty and income inequality measurement: Accommodating a role for owner-occupied housing

The most common method used in Australia to identify whether an income unit is in poverty is to compare the income units disposable cash income with a cash income-based poverty line adapted to each income units needs. If disposable cash income lies below the poverty threshold then the income unit is deemed to be in poverty. This approach was adopted in the Commission of Inquiry into Poverty (Henderson, 1975) and in numerous subsequent pieces of poverty-related research in Australia.

Low Income Housing Tax Credit Programme Impacts on Housing Affordability in Australia: Microsimulation Model Estimates

Growing concern about a lack of rental housing affordable to low-income Australian households has prompted consideration of possible policy interventions. This paper estimates the potential housing market impacts of a tax credit targeted on rental housing affordable to low-income Australian households. The study finds that existing landlords in low-income rental housing benefit from a one-third or more reduction in their effective tax burdens. If these tax benefits are passed on in the form of lower market rents, it is estimated that the percentage of households paying more than 30 per cent of gross income in rents falls from 26 to 21 per cent. This impact would be larger but for eligible households in receipt of demand-side subsidies in the form of rent assistance. As a consequence, many low-income households receive only part of the low income housing tax credit benefits that are passed on into lower market rents. Moreover, higher income tenants occupy some of the cheaper rental housing targeted by tax credits, and this weakens the policy rationale for such supply-side measures. The paper advocates the adoption of headleasing arrangements to increase the share of benefits received by low-income tenants.

Mental illness and housing outcomes among a sample of homeless men in an Australian urban centre

Objective: The over-representation of mental illness among homeless people across the globe is well documented. However, there is a dearth of Australian literature on the mental health needs of homeless individuals. Furthermore, longitudinal research examining the factors that contribute to better housing outcomes among this population is sparse. The aim of this research is to describe the mental illness profile of a sample of homeless men in an Australian urban centre (in Sydney) and examine the factors associated with better housing outcomes at 12-month follow-up. Methods: A longitudinal survey was administered to 253 homeless men who were involved in the Michael Project: a 3-year initiative which combined existing accommodation support services with assertive case management and access to coordinated additional specialist allied health and support services. A total of 107 participants were followed up 12 months later. The survey examined the demographics of the sample and lifetime mental disorder diagnoses, and also included psychological screeners for current substance use and dependence, psychological distress, psychosis, and post-traumatic stress. Results: Consistent with existing literature, the prevalence of mental illness was significantly greater amongst this sample than the general Australian population. However, mental illness presentation was not associated with housing situation at 12-month follow-up. Instead, type of support service at baseline was the best predictor of housing outcome, wherein participants who received short to medium-term accommodation and support were significantly more likely to be housed in stable, long-term housing at the 12-month follow-up than participants who received outreach or emergency accommodation support. Conclusions: This study provides evidence to support an innovative support model for homeless people in Australia and contributes to the limited Australian research on mental illness in this population.

A place to call home: study protocol for a longitudinal, mixed methods evaluation of two housing first adaptations in Sydney, Australia

BackgroundThis protocol describes a study evaluating two ‘Housing First’ programs, Platform 70 and Common Ground, presently being implemented in the inner-city region of Sydney, Australia. The Housing First approach prioritises housing individuals who are homeless in standard lease agreement tenancies as rapidly as possible to lock in the benefits from long-term accommodation, even where the person may not be seen as ‘housing ready’.Methods/DesignThe longitudinal, mixed methods evaluation utilises both quantitative and qualitative data collected at baseline and 12-month follow-up time points. For the quantitative component, clients of each program were invited to complete client surveys that reported on several factors associated with chronic homelessness and were hypothesised to improve under stable housing, including physical and mental health status and treatment rates, quality of life, substance use patterns, and contact with the health and criminal justice systems. Semi-structured interviews with clients and stakeholders comprised the qualitative component and focused on individual experiences with, and perceptions of, the two programs. In addition, program data on housing stability, rental subsidies and support levels provided to clients by agencies was collected and will be used in conjunction with the client survey data to undertake an economic evaluation of the two programs.DiscussionThis study will systematically evaluate the efficacy of a scatter site model (Platform 70) and a congregated model (Common Ground) of the Housing First approach; an examination that has not yet been made either in Australia or internationally. A clear strength of the study is its timing. It was designed and implemented as the programs in question themselves were introduced. Moreover, the programs were introduced when the Australian Government, with State and Territory support, began a more focused, coordinated response to homelessness and funded rapid expansion of innovative homelessness programs across the country, including Common Ground supportive housing developments.

Jevons’s One Great Disciple: Wicksteed and the Jevonian Revolution in the Second Generation

This paper evaluates Wicksteed’s role in the propagation of Jevonian marginalism into the second generation against the backdrop of Wicksteed’s explicit identification with the economics of Jevons and his avowed aim to explain and extend the Jevonian framework. The paper focuses primarily, but not solely, on Wicksteed’s theory of distribution, which is arguably his most important contribution to economic theory, and answers the following questions: shouldWicksteed’s contributions be read as a simple extension of Jevons’s work or did Wicksteed take the Jevonian revolution on new and different paths? If so, on what course didWicksteed steer Jevonian economics?