A moving picture of Australia

There is another story behind the headlines declaring married couples are less happy, behind coverage of small town life being preferable to city living, and reports that women do the lion’s share of household chores.

Behind these stats is an alternative story of long questionnaires, ballpoint pens, adding figures in one’s head, and offering tea to a stranger in your kitchen.

Since 2001, a small army of interviewers go house to house, visiting the same 17,000 people each year, asking for personal information and ratings on a scale of zero to ten.

How many cigarettes do you smoke? How much do you spend at the supermarket? How much did you earn last year pre-tax? How satisfied are you with your current domestic partner? Trends and stories emerge out of the thick forest of numbers.

The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey is hosted and undertaken by the University of Melbourne. Initiated and funded by the Australian Government, it is Australia’s only nationally representative longitudinal study and the largest of its kind in the nation.

Author of the latest HILDA report, Associate Professor Roger Wilkins, from the University’s Melbourne Institute, says that the HILDA survey is the only study that can tell us about how individual’s lives are changing over time.

“It provides a moving picture of Australian society,” says Associate Professor Wilkins.

And, by and large, he considers this national portrait to be looking pretty healthy.

“HILDA paints a picture of a fairly well functioning society, where people are able to achieve many of their life goals, whether it be in the workplace or in their family lives,” says Associate Professor Wilkins.

When considering things like incomes and employment, as well as satisfaction with safety and one’s neighbourhood, Australia is faring well.

“But you also find evidence of a relatively small part of the population who are experiencing persistent disadvantage.”

As the survey has been gathering data on Australian living rooms and bank accounts since 2001, analysts can identify concrete changes in Australian society.

Households are tending to get smaller. Children are tending to stay at home longer, delaying moving out of the nest until they are in their mid-20s.

“We are seeing an improvement in the time men spend on housework and childcare, which has been rising in the past few years,” he says.

“But this is at a glacial rate. There is still a great deal of inequity in the household between men and women.”

The calculations are done. If this rate of change remains consistent it would take over a century before men do the same amount of housework as women.

HILDA is designed to live forever says Associate Professor Wilkins.

“The longer it runs the more valuable it becomes as we can examine the full life course people take. And not only that, but it allows us to consider intergenerational issues and how disadvantage works from one generation to the next.

Ten things you didn’t know about Australians that HILDA can tell you

1.    Living with a partner increases men’s health, but not women’s.

2.    Those who live in wealthier areas report higher levels of life satisfaction.

3.    Having a child significantly reduces likelihood of women re-entering the workforce but has no impact on men’s employment.

4.    Changing employer is the best way to improve earnings growth.

5.    The gender pay gap is increasing for part-time workers.

6.    Men and women in de facto relationships are, on average, more satisfied with their partners.

7.    Kids make us less happy in relationships.

8.    On average, men are more satisfied with their partners than women.

9.    Children who moved out of the parental home at 21-24 years had an optimal outcome in terms of income and wealth in later adulthood. The situation is significantly worse for those who move out before the age of 18 and to a lesser extent 18-20 or over 25.

10.    Gay and bisexual men feel less safe than heterosexual men.