An employment barrier: the health status of DPB recipients' children.

AuthorO'Donavan, Tim

Abstract

A sample of Domestic Purposes Benefit (DPB) recipients identified a number of issues preventing them from obtaining paid employment. This paper focuses on one of these issues, their children's health, and compares this with the health of all New Zealand children as represented in Taking the Pulse: The 1996/7 New Zealand Health Survey (Ministry of Health 1999b). The results indicate that the DPB recipients' children have greater long-term health problems and disabilities relative to children in the national survey. The DPB recipients' children also have greater unmet health needs, as many did not see a doctor when they needed to due to the cost, the inability to get a suitable appointment time, and transportation problems. The paper acknowledges that while a return to paid employment that results in increased incomes for these DPB recipients may have a positive impact on their children's health, there are significant issues that need to be overcome to make this possible.

INTRODUCTION

A sample of DPB recipients identified the health of their children as one issue preventing them from obtaining paid employment. This paper compares the health of these children with aspects of reported health, health service utilisation and levels of unmet need of all New Zealand children as represented in Taking the Pulse: The 1996/7 New Zealand Health Survey (Ministry of Health 1999b).

BACKGROUND

Socio-economic factors have a major impact on a population's health. The relationship between poverty and poor health has been well documented in New Zealand literature (Pomare 1995, Ministry of Health 1999a, National Advisory Committee on Health and Disability 1998). Low income, unemployment and low levels of education are related to poor health outcomes and correlate with Maori or Pacific ethnicity (National Advisory Committee on Health and Disability 1998).

Overseas research also suggests that a widening income gap has adverse effects on the health and welfare of children and young adults (Roberts 1997), and, as in many other countries, the gap between upper and lower incomes in New Zealand has increased. Podder and Chatterjee (1998) found that income inequality in New Zealand increased substantially between 1983/84 and 1995/96. Specifically, their research found that the bottom 80% of New Zealand income earners suffered a reduction in their share of the total incomes paid out, while the top 5% enjoyed a 25% increase. Similarly, Stephens et al. (2000) found that real disposable income in decile-10 households (the wealthiest 10% of New Zealand households) increased by 43% between 1984 and 1998, while the real disposable income for the bottom 50% of households fell by 14%. Given these figures and the link between socio-economic factors and health, it is unlikely that the health of the majority of New Zealanders improved during this period.

While there is no official poverty line in New Zealand, research by the Poverty Measurement Project indicates that the number of people living in poverty is increasing (Waldegrave et al. 1995). For example, Waldegrave et al. (1995) found that the incidence of poverty in New Zealand increased from 4.3% of households in 1984 to 10.8% of households in 1993, before adjusting for housing costs. Furthermore, the Poverty Measurement Project found that 33% of children live in poverty and children make up 44% of the total poor in New Zealand after adjustments for housing costs have been made (Stephens et al. 2000). Children living in such conditions are disadvantaged with respect to survival, mental and physical development, educational achievement and future job prospects (Sarfati and Scott 2001) and are likely to suffer poor health. Research in the United States has found that children living in poverty are more likely to be reported as having poor-to-fair health, and as having an emotional or behavioural problem that lasted three months or more (Brook-Gunn and Duncan 1997).

In 1996 there were 126,585 lone-parent families in New Zealand, which corresponds to 27% of all families with dependent children (Sarfati and Scott 2001). This is a three-fold increase over the last 25 years (Goodger 1997) and is high in comparison to the United Kingdom (21%), Australia (21%) and Canada (19%), but less than the United States (32%) (Social Policy Agency 1999). According to Goodger (1997) the majority of lone-parent families are headed by women, live in poverty, are dependent on government benefits or work in poorly paid occupations, and have poor access to affordable, high-quality childcare. Children reared in lone-parent families have higher exposure to social and economic disadvantage, family dysfunction, stress, and impaired or compromised parenting and child rearing (Fergusson 1998). An overseas study has also found that children living in lone-parent families were more likely to have disabling conditions (Newacheck and Halfon 1998).

Lone-parent households with children represent 21% of those living in poverty in New Zealand, with 73% of all lone-parent households living in poverty (Stephens et al. 2000). Maori and Pacific mothers are more likely to be lone parents than...

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