- Kids living in jobless families falls
- The Age
- 23/09/2008 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: The Rooster ( 264 articles in 2008 )
Half of children in single parent families live with an unemployed parent, a snapshot of youth wellbeing reveals.
Some 15 per cent of children aged 14 and under lived in jobless families in 2006, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report.
The proportion of children living in jobless families has dropped over the last decade, but half of all children in one-parent families still live with an unemployed parent.
"Jobless households are disproportionately likely to be reliant on welfare, have low incomes and experience financial stress, and members of these households report worse physical and mental health and lower life satisfaction than members of households where someone is employed," the AIHW report reads.
"Studies on the effects of unemployment on other family members have identified relationships between parental joblessness and family conflict, family breakdown and child abuse."
The good news is youth mortality dropped by almost one third in the nine years to 2006 and teen smoking rates have halved since 2001.
But youth birth rates in the bush are worrying, with teenagers in remote areas having five times the chance of giving birth than their city counterparts.
On an average day, 415 people aged under 20 who requested a place in supported accommodation had their request unmet.
Some 1,055 Australians aged 1-19 years died in 2006, a rate of 20 people per 100,000.
"Many of the leading causes of death in children and young people are potentially preventable - half of all deaths of 1-19 year olds were caused by injuries, and half of these were transport accidents," the report reads.
Australia's infant mortality rate ranks 20th out of 30 OECD countries. Excluding a high indigenous mortality rate, Australia still ranks 14th.
The hospitalisation rate for diabetes jumped by two-thirds since 1998-99, but the rate for asthma fell by one third.
On the exercise front, 42 per cent of five to 12 year olds - 880,000 children - did not participate in any organised sport or dancing over a fortnight in April 2006.
One in six children spent 40 hours or more on screen activities in the fortnight, with the rate being higher for boys than girls.
Almost one in five children aged 6-11 years were overweight in 2006, with an additional six per cent obese.
When it comes to completing school, retention rates more than doubled throughout the 1980s, but stayed stagnant at 74-75 per cent for the past five years.
Many of the well-being indicators painted a bleak picture of the health of indigenous Australians.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth are still twice as likely to die between the ages of 1-19 as their non-indigenous counterparts.
Indigenous children are three times as likely as other children to live in jobless families and the indigenous teenage fertility rate was five times the non-indigenous rate in 2005.
Two-thirds of indigenous students in very remote areas failed to meet reading and numeracy benchmarks, and more than half did not meet the writing benchmark.
© 2008 AAP
Some 15 per cent of children aged 14 and under lived in jobless families in 2006, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report.
The proportion of children living in jobless families has dropped over the last decade, but half of all children in one-parent families still live with an unemployed parent.
"Jobless households are disproportionately likely to be reliant on welfare, have low incomes and experience financial stress, and members of these households report worse physical and mental health and lower life satisfaction than members of households where someone is employed," the AIHW report reads.
"Studies on the effects of unemployment on other family members have identified relationships between parental joblessness and family conflict, family breakdown and child abuse."
The good news is youth mortality dropped by almost one third in the nine years to 2006 and teen smoking rates have halved since 2001.
But youth birth rates in the bush are worrying, with teenagers in remote areas having five times the chance of giving birth than their city counterparts.
On an average day, 415 people aged under 20 who requested a place in supported accommodation had their request unmet.
Some 1,055 Australians aged 1-19 years died in 2006, a rate of 20 people per 100,000.
"Many of the leading causes of death in children and young people are potentially preventable - half of all deaths of 1-19 year olds were caused by injuries, and half of these were transport accidents," the report reads.
Australia's infant mortality rate ranks 20th out of 30 OECD countries. Excluding a high indigenous mortality rate, Australia still ranks 14th.
The hospitalisation rate for diabetes jumped by two-thirds since 1998-99, but the rate for asthma fell by one third.
On the exercise front, 42 per cent of five to 12 year olds - 880,000 children - did not participate in any organised sport or dancing over a fortnight in April 2006.
One in six children spent 40 hours or more on screen activities in the fortnight, with the rate being higher for boys than girls.
Almost one in five children aged 6-11 years were overweight in 2006, with an additional six per cent obese.
When it comes to completing school, retention rates more than doubled throughout the 1980s, but stayed stagnant at 74-75 per cent for the past five years.
Many of the well-being indicators painted a bleak picture of the health of indigenous Australians.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth are still twice as likely to die between the ages of 1-19 as their non-indigenous counterparts.
Indigenous children are three times as likely as other children to live in jobless families and the indigenous teenage fertility rate was five times the non-indigenous rate in 2005.
Two-thirds of indigenous students in very remote areas failed to meet reading and numeracy benchmarks, and more than half did not meet the writing benchmark.
© 2008 AAP
Source: https://news.theage.com.au/national/kids-living-in-jobless-families-falls-20080924-4mnu.html
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