Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0019/00199.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 28KB | 461 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00199}
$Pretitle{369}
$Title{Australia
Chapter 4A.   Living Conditions}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Donald P. Whitaker}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{health
state
australia
medical
states
australian
income
diseases
percent
public}
$Date{1974}
$Log{Table 7.*0019901.tab
Table 8.*0019902.tab
Table 9.*0019903.tab
Table 10.*0019904.tab
}
Country:     Australia
Book:        Australia, A Country Study
Author:      Donald P. Whitaker
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1974

Chapter 4A.   Living Conditions

     When measured by standards of buying power, food consumption, death rate,
housing, and ownership of consumer durables, Australian society in the early
1970s enjoyed a standard of living that was one of the highest in the world.
Moreover, the general evenness of income distribution throughout the society
made this standard available to all but a few. A wide range of social services
and welfare programs were provided by private organizations and state and
federal governments. Government in general appeared to be actively engaged in
ensuring a continued high standard of living for the population and in
extending it to those who might be disadvantaged.

     Most Australians lived in and owned individual suburban houses. The
desire to own and furnish a house comfortably was a prime goal for most
people. A slowly increasing, although minor, proportion of the population
lived in apartments, some through choice and others through necessity.

     The general state of health in Australia was similar to that in other
highly developed industrialized societies. Apart from a shortage of dentists,
medical personnel and facilities were readily available. Conditions of
nutrition, sanitation, disease control, and medical technology were good,
resulting in a low incidence of infectious disease. Heart diseases, stroke,
and respiratory diseases were mostly responsible for mortality, a pattern
shared by other highly developed countries.

     There was a broad scope of social services in health; and although it was
not uniform from state to state, there appeared to be no critical
deficiencies. At the end of 1973 there were increasing possibilities that
medical insurance would be nationalized and brought to conform to uniform
standards.

     Most Australians adhered to values that placed the responsibility for the
health and welfare of the population in the hands of recognized
institutions-which has increasingly come to mean the federal government. It
was widely felt that no individual willing and able to work should be allowed
to fall below a minimal level of conditions commensurate with a moderately
comfortable existence. Proposals were advanced in 1973 which, if enacted,
would considerably extend health care benefits and retirement pensions.

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY

Wages and Prices

     During the two decades preceding the 1970s, consumer retail prices rose
considerably more slowly than did most wages, permitting a general rise in the
amount of disposable income available to most families. Much of this increased
disposable income was translated into consumer durables, such as automobiles,
television sets, refrigerators, and washing machines. Consumer prices did
rise, however; the cost of housing increased the most sharply, more than
doubling between fiscal year 1954/55 and 1970/71. The price of food, which
took the largest bite out of the average family's household budget, rose at a
much slower rate, as did the prices of household supplies and furnishings,
clothing, and other consumer needs.

     While consumer prices were increasing, wages more than kept pace with
inflation, helped largely by Australia's unique system of wage arbitration
that permits rapid adjustment to changing economic conditions (see ch. 13).
The average male working at a manufacturing job at the end of October 1971
earned A $88.90 (for value of the Australian dollar-see Glossary) per week;
nonmanufacturing industrial workers earned over A $90 per week. Full-time
management and staff personnel did considerably better; manufacturing
management and staff earned an average of A $141 weekly, and their counterparts
in the nonmanufacturing industry earned only about A $4 less. Women industrial
workers were earning considerably less; as a group they earned only an average
of A $54.40 weekly.

     During the 1950s and 1960s farm producers generally kept well above
national averages in yearly income. In the early 1970s, however, rising farm
costs, along with rising consumer prices and slowly rising food costs, sharply
reduced farm income; by 1971 the average income of farm taxpayers was below
the average of wage earners and salaried employees (see ch. 12).

     Income tax statistics from fiscal 1969/70 revealed that the average
taxpayer earned about A $3,378 per annum. Many families had more than one wage
earner. The amount of disposable income available to each family in 1968
averaged A $4,145, and in 1970 it was considerably more. Household disposable
income increased sharply in fiscal 1970/71, an average of 12.6 percent over
the previous year (14.2 percent for non-farm families). Household disposable
income continued to rise through 1973, national averages in the first quarter
reaching a 14.2 percent increase over fiscal 1971/72. These increases were
owing not only to increased wages and salaries but also to higher rates of
social services payments (see Social Services and Welfare, this ch.).

     Consumer spending during the early 1970s increased rapidly, attaining
what was called a "historically high rate." Part of this reflected increases
in prices, but it was felt that a large portion of the greater spending was
due to the increase in real disposable income and to improved consumer
confidence in light of improving employment opportunities. By the end of 1973,
however, inflation, reaching a reported annual rate of increase of over 14
percent, had begun to make substantial inroads against the buying power of the
average family (see ch. 11).

The Pattern of Household Expenditures

     The only extensive analysis of Australian household expenditures readily
available at the end of 1973 was made on the basis of a survey completed in
1968 (see table 7). It revealed a pattern that was typical, if not an
exaggeration, of equivalent patterns in other highly developed industrial
countries. The proportion of an average family's disposable income that was
spent on food was remarkably low, compared to other industrialized countries.
Australian urban families spent around 28 percent of their income on food
compared, for example, with their Japanese counterparts, who spent well over
one-third of their income on food. Another unusual feature of Australian
consumption patterns was the relatively high proportion of disposable income
that was spent on consumer durables. After having attained the goal of
homeownership, many families tended to spend a large proportion of their
income on home furnishing and purchasing labor-saving devices, such as
refrigerators and washing machines. Housing costs, mostly mortgage payments,
took up almost as much of the household budget as did spending on consumer
durables. The predominant pattern of suburban living-often a considerable
distance from place of work-made automobile purchase a major component of
consumer durable purchases; transportation expenditures (largely automobile
operating and maintenance outlays) were the fourth largest proportion of
household spending (see Housing, this ch; ch. 3).

     A relatively high proportion of disposable income was put into savings.
The increase in real disposable income that took place in the early 1970s most
likely enabled Australians to save more than the proportion that was put into
savings in 1968 (5.55 percent).

HOUSING

     The preference of Australians to live in privately owned houses has given
rise to a pattern of predominantly suburban housing. Australian social critic
Craig McGregor has called his country "extraordina