6224.0.55.001 - Labour Force, Australia: Labour Force Status and Other Characteristics of Families, Jun 2012 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 01/05/2013   
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Contents >> Couple Families

COUPLE FAMILIES

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COUPLE FAMILIES

As noted in What is a Family?, couple families are based around a couple relationship between two people who are either married or in a de facto partnership and usually resident in the same household. It includes couples with or without dependants, and same-sex partners.

In June 2012, there were:

        • 2.3 million opposite-sex couple families with dependants
        • 3 million opposite-sex couple families without dependants
        • 41 thousand same-sex couple families

Graph: couple families by employment status by age of youngest child
* Couple family with 15 to 24 year old dependent student
** Couple family without dependants, but with children 15 years or over
*** Couple family without dependants

COUPLE FAMILIES WITH DEPENDANTS

The proportion of couple families with dependants in which one or both partners were employed was 93% in June 2012. The majority of couple families with dependents had both partners employed (62%).

The father was employed in 90% of all opposite-sex couples with dependants. In 92% of these families, the father was employed full-time.

The mother was employed in 67% of all opposite-sex couple families with dependants. In 44% of these families, the mother was employed full-time. The percentage of mothers employed full-time in opposite sex couple families increased with the age of the youngest dependant, from 19% for mothers of 0–4 year olds to 41% of mothers of young people aged 15–24 years.

Graph: opposite-sex couple families, by employment status by sex by age of youngest child
* Couple family with 15 to 24 year old dependent student
** Couple family without dependants, but with children 15 years or over
*** Couple family without dependants

COUPLE FAMILIES WITHOUT DEPENDANTS

In June 2012, 57% of couple families had no dependants. Half of all of these couple families had both members of the couple not in the labour force. These couple families will include families where both members of the couple were retired.



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