The Carbon Price and the Cost of Living - The Climate Institute

AECOM
The Carbon Price and the Cost of Living
9 November 2011
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Figure 16 provides an overview of the four main household types. The figure shows total (gross) household
income before tax, which is higher for couples as they typically include two people earning income.
Figure 16: Overview of focal household types, gross income per week (2009-10)
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
Q5
Q4
Q3
Q2
Q1
highincome
middleincome
moderate
lowincome
All
Couplewith
dependents
Coupleonly
Soleparentw Loneadult
dependents (b)
(a)(b)
(a)middleincomehousholdclassifiedbythe
Governmentas 'low' forassistance purposes
(b)highincomehouseholdclassifiedbythe
Governmentas'medium'forassistancepurposes
Source: Data from Table 2 and ABS 2011d.
For all household types other than couples with dependent children, the middle income household is based on the
average (mean) income for that household type. For couples with dependent children, mean income is projected
to be $145,000 in 2012-13 (up from $126,000 in 2009-10), well above average income of $114,600 for the middle
income quintile for this household type in 2012-13. Because of concerns that this level of income would not be
generally considered to be ‘middle income’, the study uses projected income and expenditure for the median
income couple family household, which closely matches the middle income quintile for this household type.
Income and expenditure details for each focal household type are provided in Table 2, along with definitions of
how the income levels were defined for data collection purposes.
In addition, the report provides information on households by age (below 65 years, and 65 years and older) and
location (capital cities and balance of nation). An overview is provided in Table 2, with details in the following
sections.