Mining activity, income inequality and gender in regional Australia*

Abstract

Mining activity has been a significant driver of export growth as well as income and employment in parts of regional Australia. However, while income growth is an economic benefit, the high incomes associated with the mining sector may also lead to greater inequality. This paper describes an empirical analysis of mining activity and income inequality in regional Australia. The Gini coefficient (a measure of inequality) for personal income is found to be significantly associated with levels of mining employment. However, this relationship is not linear. Rather, income inequality initially increases with mining activity, before decreasing at medium to high levels of mining employment, following a Kuznets curve pattern. Segregating data for men and women reveals very different patterns. Among men, inequality initially increases as mining employment in a region increases, but then sharply decreases; at high levels of mining activity, income inequality among men is lower than is typically observed in non‐mining areas. Among women, income inequality increases with mining activity throughout its range. This suggests that income inequality is most likely to be a problem in locales with intermediate levels of mining activity and that it affects men and women quite differently.

Developmental network structure and support: gendered consequences for work–family strain and work–parenting strain in the Australian mining industry

“…Given the traditionally male-dominated industry setting of our study (ABS, 2014;Reeson, Measham, & Hosking, 2012) and differences in parenting and family roles by gender (cf. Chaplin, Cole, & Zahn-Waxler, 2005;Cinamon & Rich, 2002;Starrels, 1994;Wille, 1995), we also seek to explore the possibility that gender moderates the relationship between psychosocial support and both work-family and work-parenting strain.…”

A conceptual model of the socioeconomic impacts of unconventional fossil fuel extraction

“…[ Figure 1 here] Historically, much of the socio-economic literature concerned with fossil fuels has focused on the broader macro-economic effects of minerals and energy-led economic development calculated at the national scale, such as the widelyrecognised phenomenon summarised as the 'Dutch Disease' (Larsen, 2006;Reeson et al, 2012). The macro-economic effects of unconventional fossil fuels have also been noteworthy for national energy markets in places such as the USA and Australia, with broader implications for the global energy system resulting from changes to supply generated in different regions of the world (Johnson and Boersma, 2013;Simshauser and Nelson, 2015).…”

“…When looking at income effects across multiple resource regions, there is evidence that income inequality decreases among men and increases among women where the resources sector is a large employer (Reeson et al, 2012).…”

Testing attribute selection and variation in a choice experiment to assess the tradeoffs associated with increased mining development

“…However, despite the economic contribution of the resources sector, questions are often raised about potential negative social, economic and environmental impacts (Rolfe et al, 2007;Solomon et al, 2008;Petkova-Timmer et al, 2009;Haslam McKenzie et al, 2013). The development of energy resources in Australia such as coal and gas has been shown to involve substantial growth pressures on local economic frameworks, communities and environmental assets (Hajkowicz et al, 2011;Reeson et al, 2012), including in newly emerging areas such as the Surat Basin in southern Queensland (Rolfe, 2013;Fleming and Measham, 2014). To date there has been limited assessment of these impacts with stated preference techniques, with Gillespie Economics (2009), Ivanova and Rolfe (2011) and Gillespie and Kragt (2012) providing some limited examples in Australia.…”