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Profile of each household income group by income support status

Income inequalityInequalityWho is affected?

Unlike most other graphs in this website, this one is limited to the 21% of people (including children) living in households where the reference person (usually the highest income-earner) receives an income support payment. Its purpose is to compare the types of income support payments received in low, middle and high household income groups.

Among people  towards the lower end of the income scale, there is an increasing proportion of households where the reference person receives Newstart Allowance People in households whose reference person receives  Newstart Allowance comprise 16% of the lowest 20% income group; 30% of the lowest 10% income group; and 47% of the lowest 5% income group. The reasons for the greater concentration of people in households receiving Newstart Allowance in the lowest income groups are that Newstart is the lowest, and most strictly income-tested, of these income support payments.

On the other hand, a slight majority (51%) of people in the lowest 20% income group (where the reference person receives income support) are in households receiving Age Pension. Although the pension was over $150pw more than Newstart Allowance for a single person, this reflects the much larger population of Age Pension recipients overall.

Among people in the lowest 20% income group whose household reference person receives income support,  in 51% of cases that payment was  Age Pension, in 16% of cases  Newstart Allowance, in 15% of cases Disability Support Pension, in 9% of cases  Parenting Payment Single; and in 8% of cases it was  Carer Payment.

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