COUPLE FAMILIES
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
* 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.
* 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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