These risks are particularly elevated for children living in jobless households, which is a group that has stood out among the multiple measures of inequality and disadvantage. How the future of inequality in Australia evolves will depend on the opportunities that citizens have to improve living standards today. For by far the largest number of us, sustained economic growth and reliable access to employment complemented by skills — and education improvements as specified in our 2017 report, will offer Shifting the Dial — these opportunities and the ability to embrace them. But for a significant albeit much smaller group, the challenges are much more complex. Growth and complementary improvements in skills and education policies will not be enough. In some previous research, we found that needs in housing or health policies could better be fashioned to address more directly than today quite specific needs what might — be termed policy as we look out towards a fourth decade of uninterrupted ‘hand-made’ — economic growth.
These risks are particularly elevated for children living in jobless households, which is a group that has stood out among the multiple measures of inequality and disadvantage. How the future of inequality in Australia evolves will depend on the opportunities that citizens have to improve living standards today. For by far the largest number of us, sustained economic growth and reliable access to employment — complemented by skills and education improvements as specified in our 2017 report, Shifting the Dial — will offer these opportunities and the ability to embrace them. But for a significant albeit much smaller group, the challenges are much more complex. Growth and complementary improvements in skills and education policies will not be enough. In some previous research, we found that needs in housing or health policies could better be fashioned to address more directly than today quite specific needs — what might be termed ‘hand-made’ policy — as we look out towards a fourth decade of uninterrupted economic growth.