Mothers and fathers with young children: paid employment, caring and wellbeing

Abstract

In recent decades, the increasing employment rates of mothers combined with other changes in Australian society have had a major impact upon many aspects of family life. Despite widespread policy interest and community debate about the impact of this trend, a lack of nationally representative surveys that have a large sample of families with young children means that relatively little is known about how families with young children combine caring for children with participation in paid employment. 'Growing up in Australia': the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) is a new study that provides information on over 10,000 children. In the first wave, there are approximately 5,000 infants and 5,000 4 to 5 year-old children and their families. With its detailed information on labour force status, job characteristics and measures of wellbeing of the children and parents, LSAC provides an opportunity to examine the different patterns of employment and the characteristics of jobs in which parents with young children are employed.