Working their way out of poverty? Sole motherhood, work, welfare and material well-being

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, Australian social policy has increasingly focused on raising the labour market participation level of sole parents. The extension of mutual obligation to sole parents under welfare reform further concentrates this policy direction. Yet while increased workforce activity may reduce ‘welfare dependency’, the efficacy of employment to raise the level of material well-being in sole parent families is less clear. Recent research casts doubt on the assumed link between material well-being and paid work for sole mother households. This article uses data from the 1996/97 Negotiating the Lifecourse Project and three measures of material well-being to examine the relative importance of employment and partnered status to material well-being among sole and married mother households. The results indicate that increased market work may not lead to significantly higher rates of material well-being for sole mother families.