How Unemployment Affects People Living below Poverty Line in Australia

Running head: Social Determinants of Health 1
How Unemployment Affects People Living below Poverty Line in Australia
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Social Determinants of Health 2
Introduction
The determinants of health include a range of political, ecological, social, cultural and
economic characteristics that determines the health of individuals and their families(Ferrer,
2018). These factors often integrate with each other contributing to the current health status of a
person and their chances of becoming ill or their chances of maintaining good health. Most of the
social determinants of health are affected by inequality brought by social justice in a society(The
Australian Institute of health and Welfare, 2014). Such inequality exists due to poor distribution
of power, money, and resources at local, domestic and international level. Social determinants of
health are conditions in which people are born, grow, live, age, work, and the systems they found
that affect health, normal functioning, life expectancy, health risks and quality of health
outcomes. In that way, social determinants of health shape the wellbeing of individuals, people
economic status plus health inequities in a country (AIHW, 2018). However, these determinants
of health are not only affected by the unequal distribution of resources only but also things like
social isolation and lack of sense of control over certain choices and circumstances.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), such determinants of health that
affect individual health status include stress, social gradient, unemployment, work, early life,
food, education, transportation, and addiction(WHO, 2015). This study seeks to cover how
unemployment affects the wellbeing of people living under the poverty line in Australia.
Unemployment is defined by WHO as lack of jobs, seeking for work or have ceased working.
Lack of employment increases dependent ratio, poverty, illiteracy, and thus affecting people’s
health (WHO, 2017). Poor government and social policies have been termed as major causes of
unemployment. People living under poverty lines can either be not employed or lack jobs at
all(National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health, 2015). In that way, such a

Social Determinants of Health 3
population is prone to poor health status due to the adoption of unhealthy foods, poor lifestyles
and lack of money for the hospital.
Unemployment as a Social Determinant of Health
According to WHO, unemployment puts people at health risks at which the risk is more
severe when unemployment is widespread. Evidence from various studies and nations suggest
that, even after catering for other social determinants of Health, unemployment reduces life
expectancies and increases the risk for both communicable and non-communicable diseases
(WHO, 2017). The health statuses of unemployed individuals are linked with social, physical,
psychological and financial consequences(NSW Ministry of Health, 2013). The health effects of
unemployment begin when individual first start feeling their jobs is threatened (WHO, 2017).
That alone instills anxiety about job security which can lead to a mental disorder such as
depression.
According to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2018, the proportion of
individuals aged over fifteen years who are unemployed in Australia have increased in the last
two decades from 58% in the year 1997 to 62% in the year 2017. However, in the same duration
of time, the rates of unemployment have fallen from 7.9% to 5.4% in the general population. The
same statistics show that there are about 1.4 million families in Australia that are jobless making
up about 21% of all the families. In June 2012, about 339,000 families in Australia were jobless
of which 11% of those were dependent. Such unemployment causes emotional stress bringing
impacts on both psychological and physical wellbeing of individuals.
As soon as a person is employed, quality of work helps the people to protect their own
health, have a positive sense of identity, instill self-esteem while at the same time providing an
opportunity for personal development and social interactions (Public Health Association of

Social Determinants of Health 4
Australia,2018). However, there are many dimensions of work that influences health. These
include working hours, conditions, job control, and demands that may have impacts on mental
and physical health. In that case, therefore, the quality of work is crucial. Rates of unemployment
and poor quality of work can be increased by personal skills and qualification, disabilities,
mental health, ethnicity, social exclusion, and people having more caring responsibilities.
People Living under Poverty Lines in Australia
According to the Australian Council of Social Service 2018, people are in poverty when
their income after taxation falls below levels that are considered insufficient to achieve the
required standards of living. Poverty in Australia cannot simply measure using general inequality
since it usually exists due to income inequality among people(Lay-Yee, Milne, Davis, Pearson,
& McLay, 2015). Looking at the international context in many wealthy countries, the individual
falls under the poverty line when half of their median household is disposable income (ACOSS,
2018). Even before taking account of housing cost, individuals earning around 433 dollars a
week or a family with 909 dollars a week are termed to be below poverty lines. After taking into
account all household costs, about one unto eight of all Australian live under the poverty line.
The poverty line in children is much higher where about 17.3% fall in this population. Therefore,
altogether, there are about 3.05 million Australian including 739,000 children living under the
poverty line today (ACOSS, 2018).
Looking further to Australian statistics provided by the Australian Council of Social
Service, more than four hundred thousand youths in Australia are currently below poverty lines.
The current average poverty gap between the income of people in poverty and those below
poverty lines is about 135 dollars per week. Out of those, about 53% rely on social security for
household and 38% from wages (ACOSS, 2018). One major source of child poverty in the