Simple Arithmetic, Economic Policy and the Economic Well-Being of Female Indigenous Sole Parents in Australia and the US

In this paper we focus on economic outcomes for a subset of women with dependent children who experience a high rate of economic deprivation: US and Australian female indigenous sole parents. This focus brings to centre stage a number of important general issues that relate to the economic well-being of all children of workers who have low incomes and tend to experience intermittent employment spells at low pay. First, the comparison between indigenous female sole parents of the US and Australia makes clear that the income of children from poor families in wealthy economies depends a great deal on the prevailing institutional and political structures that determine the generosity and access to the welfare system and the extent of government intervention to lift low wages relative to the average. We suggest that this general policy environment is more important, in terms of impact on the income of indigenous sole parents, than indigenous specific policies designed to lift indigenous incomes. Second, Australian macro outcomes and policy responses are generating changes in the wage distribution, and potential changes to the welfare system, that could considerably reduce the relative income of these families. Wages for the female unskille