People in their 50s can expect to live longer than the same group 20 years ago, are more highly educated and less likely to own their home outright, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) flagship publication, Australian Social Trends 2006, released this week.
The publication also says the last two decades have seen an increase in working hours for both full-time and part-time workers and in the energy used per person in the home.
Australian Social Trends 2006 provides a snapshot of life in Australia and how it is changing over time, including for the first time, an examination of the wealth of Australians.
Families and work
Fathers of children under 15 years who worked full-time in 2004-05 spent an average of 43 hours per week at work and one-third worked more than 50 hours per week. However, fathers are increasingly using flexible working arrangements to help care for their children. In 2002, 30 per cent of fathers used such arrangements, up from 24 per cent in 1993.
Average weekly hours worked have increased over the last two decades, to around 43.2 hours for men and 39.3 hours for women. Women still put in more hours of part-time work than men (16.9 to 16.4 hours, respectively) per week.
More women are working, with 53 per cent of women aged 15 years and over working in 2004, up from 40 per cent in 1979. The growth in women's employment has been mainly in part-time work. In 2004, 24 per cent of women aged 15 years and over were employed part-time, an increase from 14 per cent in 1979.
Australians growing older
Many aspects of life today for people in their 50s are different from 20 years ago. People at age 50 now can expect to live longer with men living to 80.6 years and women to 84.6 years (an additional 5.5 years for men and 3.9 years for women between 1980-82 and 2002-04).
Both men and women are far more highly educated and many more women in their 50s are in the labour force than 20 years ago (37 per cent in 1984 increasing to 62 per cent in 2004).
People in their 50s are less likely to have children living with them (35 per cent in 2001 compared with 43 per cent in 1981) and are less likely to own their home outright in (46 per cent in 2003-04 compared with 56 per cent in 1982).
Australia's population is ageing, but not as fast as some other countries, including Japan, which in 2005 had the highest median age of all countries in the world (42.9 years). In comparison, Australia's median age in 2005 was 36.7 years. Projections are that Japan's median age in 2050 will be 53.4 years compared with 45.2 years in Australia.
Our spending patterns, wealth and homes
Almost half (49 per cent) of household spending on goods and services in 2003-04 was on food and non-alcoholic beverages, current housing costs and transport. This proportion was unchanged from 1984.
The wealth of households is commonly accumulated over the working years and utilised during retirement. In 2003-04, the average net worth (wealth) of all Australian households was $468,000. The median was substantially lower at $295,000, reflecting the relatively large proportion of households at the lower end of the wealth distribution.
The home is the biggest asset for a large proportion of Australians. In capital cities, the home accounted for 49 per cent of the assets of households in 2003-04 and 40 per cent of assets for households outside capital cities.
Despite new homes becoming more energy efficient, Australians are using more energy per person. Average household energy consumption per person increased by 17 per cent between 1983-84 and 2003-04.
