Matching Work and Family Commitments: Australian Outcomes in a Comparative Perspective

This article summarises the main conclusions of the synthesis report of the OECD s 2002 07 Babies and Bosses series, and also highlights how Australia compares with other OECD countries in terms of family policies and their outcomes. The report found that if parents have to choose between earning money and looking after their children, the result is that there would be too few babies and too little employment. Australia scores well in family spending and has a redistributive tax/benefit system, but its focus is largely on cash transfers rather than child and out-of-school-hours care. Policies aimed at sole parents have moved towards promoting self-sufficiency; nevertheless, there remain gaps in support. The report concludes that family policies in OECD countries are often not well integrated and indeed are sometimes in conflict, which leads to a waste of money and leaves the pursuit of a coherent family policy across the early life course a distant dream. This paper was presented in the Work and Family Panel session at the Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference in Melbourne, 9 11 July 2008