Overview

This paper draws on data from a three year study of living standards of Australian families in 12 localities which reflect varying socio-economic settings in Australia. The paper focuses on Berwick and Box Hill in Melbourne. Although both areas contained families from various social classes, Berwick families could be described as lower middle class working in blue collar and low white collar jobs and Box Hill had a greater proportion of higher, white collar workers. The authors examine the relationship between equivalent household income and a range of other indicators obtained in the study. The first group of these indicators could be described as economic outcomes related to income, that is, the things you can buy with money or the things you do or do not have to do if you have money. A second group consists of non-economic outcomes such as health status and psycho-social indicators of wellbeing. A third group could be described as correlates of income such as employment, receipt of social security benefits, occupation, education and non-English speaking background.