Intergenerational Welfare Dependency in Australia: A Review of the Literature

Growing up in welfare dependency limits the opportunities of children to participate in society, is economically inefficient by wasting human resources, reduces people’s trust in social and political institutions, and undermines social cohesion. In this paper, we review the literature on this phenomenon in Australia, revealing that this is scarce, methodologically limited, and of limited value to inform evidence-based policy. Intergenerational welfare dependency is exacerbated by certain attitudes to work and welfare, low education, youth unemployment, Indigeneity, geographic location, and mental health issues. Supportive parenting and early intervention are protective factors. A familial history of income support relates to the adoption of permissive views on welfare dependency, receipt of welfare support during adulthood, suboptimal educational outcomes, unemployment, teenage parenthood, poor physical and mental health, and criminal behavior. More systematic and rigorous analyses of the causes and consequences of intergenerational welfare dependency in Australia using maturing longitudinal surveys and large-scale administrative Government datasets are now possible