Centre looks at income support users
The projects are a coup for the Centre, which was one of only three institutions in Australia to win project funding from the DSS.Centre Director Associate Professor Philip Lewis said the Centre's multi-faceted expertise had helped secure the projects.The Centre, which is a consortium comprising academics from Murdoch University, the University of Western Australia, Curtin University and Edith Cowan University, had researchers not only in labour market economics, but in education, psychology and industrial relations, said Professor Lewis.He said the Centre was particularly enthusiastic about the DSS projects because they were being based on longitudinal data."Most income support studies are based on cross-sectional data -- statistics that have been collected nationwide at a given point in time," explained Professor Lewis."This sort of data can run into problems with certain types of analysis."Longitudinal data, however, tracks the same income support recipients over time, which means it lends itself to more insightful analysis."The data that the Centre will be using in its three projects has been collected for all income support recipients in Australia every fortnight for the past three years from 1995 to 1997.It is the first time such comprehensive data on income support recipients, which number around six million in Australia, has been collected."It's a much richer source of data, and we are over the moon that we have got access to it," said Professor Lewis.The first project the Centre will concentrate on is looking at the effect of policy relevant variables.Another project will study the role of part-time employment as a avenue to improved labour market status. The last project looks at the effect that greater mobility has on the chances of leaving income support.Professor Lewis said that the results of the project are aimed at helping the DSS target income support funds more effectively.Further information
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Associate Professor Phil Lewis Centre for Labour Market Research Telephone (08) 9360 2774 email lewis@central.murdoch.edu.au |