Welfare Recipient Patterns Among Migrants
Locational patterns of migrants eligible for welfare assistance
Table 11: Welfare recipient rates and population, men and women aged 45-64 yrs in SLAs* with high proportions of residents from EP3 and EP4 birthplaces, Melbourne and Sydney |
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Females 45-64 yrs |
Males 45-64 yrs |
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Recipient rates (%) |
Population |
Recipient rates (%) |
Population |
|
Melbourne |
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Yarra (C) - Richmond Brimbank (C) - Sunshine Hobsons Bay (C) - Altona Maribyrnong Moreland (C) - Brunswick Moreland (C) - Coburg Moreland (C) - North Darebin (C) - Northcote Darebin (C) - Preston Hume (C) - Broadmeadows Greater Dandenong (C) - Dandenong Greater Dandenong (C) - Balance (Springvale) Mornington Peninsula (S) - South |
42.7 49.4 44.3 54.1 51.7 51.9 53.1 48.7 53.7 48.6 44.5 40.8 50.1 |
2,054 8,223 5,160 5,307 3,592 4,575 5,027 4,158 8,117 6,506 5,993 7,743 4,515 |
34.3 37.2 29.9 44.9 42.9 37.4 36.6 38.4 37.8 35.9 30.3 27.7 34.6 |
2,050 8,528 5,112 5,381 3,518 4,413 4,368 4,083 7,691 6,571 6,019 7,938 3,932 |
Melbourne Statistical Division |
32.4 |
326,712 |
21.7 |
322,429 |
Sydney |
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Marrickville (A) Bankstown (C) Canterbury (C) Fairfield (C) Auburn (A) Liverpool (C) Wyong (A) |
40.9 36.9 38.6 44.5 42.5 39.7 49.3 |
7,205 16,428 12,968 17,198 4,301 11,248 11,851 |
34.8 25.1 27.3 32.1 33.3 27.0 37.3 |
7,965 16,248 13,446 17,930 4,789 11,466 11,059 |
Sydney Statistical Division |
27.2 |
383,654 |
18.8 |
386,463 |
Australia |
32.1 |
1,847,915 |
22.4 |
1,873,373 |
* Mornington Peninsula (S) - South and Wyong (A) have low numbers of EP3 and EP4 residents. They were included in the table for comparative purposes. |
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Table 11 shows that the welfare-recipient rates for persons aged 45-64 in the suburbs listed are well above the average for Melbourne and Sydney respectively.
This reflects the over-representation of EP groups 3 and 4 in Melbourne and Sydney and, within these cities, the tendency for such residents to concentrate in the suburbs with the lowest housing prices. Lower income Australian and English-speaking residents are more dispersed across Sydney and Melbourne.
However, there are some outer suburbs including Wyong (which is part of the Sydney Statistical District) and the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne (both shown in Table 11) which are also relatively low-cost housing areas where the great majority of residents are Australia-born.
These areas tend to attract low-income Australia-born residents and thus show similar high welfare-recipient rates to those with high concentrations of EP3 and 4 birthplace migrants.
From a settlement point of view, Table 11 gives a good indication of the appropriate location for migrant welfare assistance. The direction of welfare policy discussed at the beginning of this report towards the 'mainstreaming' of welfare payments is working in the sense that a substantial proportion of migrants coming from backgrounds without the skills to find employment in Australia's current economy are being provided with income support benefits or pensions.
At least that is what is implied by the high percentage receiving such help as indicated in Table 11 and earlier tables. However, the concentration of such migrants in Melbourne and Sydney and within particular suburbs in these cities indicates that the data should be a good guide to the location of ethnic specific grant in aid workers and Migrant Resource Centres.