Measuring Poverty and Inequality from Highly Aggregated Small‐Area Data: The Changing Fortunes of Latrobe Valley Households

Abstract

Using census data, we analyse inequality and poverty levels for the coal‐rich region of Latrobe Valley between 1986 and 2006, a period incorporating industry restructuring, recession and subsequent growth. To enable the analysis using limited information, we propose a method for using grouped data to obtain income distributions for small areas. Unit record data are used to validate the methodology. We find that welfare in the region deteriorated between 1986 and 1996, in line with national and regional trends. However, between 1996 and 2006, when the national economy grew strongly and many regions started to prosper again, welfare in the Valley continued to deteriorate.

Education through smoke and ash: thinking without method and the argument for a post-growth education

“…His family encouraged his early interest in literacy and numeracy, and he quickly discovered that school was a place that also rewarded these interests. Following the privatisation of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, the Valley came to have one of the highest unemployment levels in Victoria for two decades, peaking at 18.6% in 2006 (Wright, Valenzuela, & Chotikapanich, 2015). Attending the nearest public secondary college in Traralgon during this era, White struggled to accept the idea that the local economic conditions meant that his education should be designed to guide him towards the acquisition of knowledge and skills that were favoured by local employers.…”

Factors Contributing to Energy‐related Financial Stress in Australia

“…For example, Wright et al . () analysed poverty in the Latrobe Valley region, finding evidence of worsening poverty and inequality, even during the decade to 2006 when there was strong national economic growth. There is analysis of drivers of poverty persistence that has focused on a range of socioeconomic determinants (Buddelmeyer & Verick, ).…”