Australia’s baby drought underscores challenges facing young workers
Australia’s baby drought underscores challenges facing young workers
The fertility rate is near historic lows and there are signs it will fall further.
How the fuck are people expected to have kids when they need to work work work just to live. So many people can barely support themselves, much less be expected to support two other individuals. And it is two because all these articles keep harping on about the "replacement rate". No one in power seems to want to do anything to actually help aside from funneling more taxes into corporate leeches with increasing subsidies.
30Just let in more immigrants, problem solved in the government's opinion.
Migrating to Australia is very expensive so they may even make a return on it.
6We need a plan not just one fix. Governments are supposed to look at the whole picture and make changes so that the economy and society as a whole 'sings'. They are supposed to make plans for the near, medium and far future. All we've had for the past decade is right-wing governments getting into power and then everything they did from then on was about winning the next election at any cost - they were parasites that did nothing to improve pretty much anything, and now we are suffering because of that.
We need a plan like Germany and Japan had after WWII to transition their destroyed countries into economic powerhouses 30 years later. We need long term planning like Norway has done with their resources and their sovereign fund. Yes we need big-australia immigration but combine it with education improvements and so on - do this and this other thing, and combine it with that because of this reason, and the result of all these things combined will be greater than the sum of their parts.
If we don't start planning we will continue to suffer and living standards will continue to nose-dive.
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To jump on my soapbox for a minute, we as a society need to recognise that times have changed.
Once upon a time, most households survived on a single income, with one partner (normally the mother) staying at home to do the necessary work there and raise the children.
This is fundamentally no longer the case.
Now both partners have to work, perhaps multiple jobs.
The grandparents still have to work.
The parents may have had to move away to find that work.Full time child care should be free for tax payers.
Yes that will be expensive.
Yes people will rort it.I don't care.
It pays a societal benefit to have educated, well fed, healthy children.
Even the poorest ones.
Perhaps especially the poorest ones.29It’s interesting to me that you point out how far we have fallen as a society, yet your suggested solution is free childcare to enable more of the same.
As humans shouldn’t we be asking harder questions? Why is our entire family structure working longer and harder for less?
The change we need is single income households being viable again and our elderly being in a position to retire.
22As an educator, childcare is education first and foremost.
We’re not a parents baby sitters while they’re at work.
Edit: Do you downvoters care to explain why the disagree with education for children?
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Yes that will be expensive.
As with the dog's breakfast of the US health system, it won't actually be that expensive if we cut out the middleman and provide public healthcare. A lot of things provide a positive return on investment for society but too many people are still too blinded by bootstrap bullshit and post-war boomer mentality.
19I'd rather we make it so people don't have to work like fucking slaves until they die; it's absolutely unnecessary
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With the cost of living crises combined with the housing shortage I think everyone saw this coming. Some people have full time jobs and live in tents because they cannot get a house. Anyone who is surprised by the baby shortage is most likely rich and never had to experience what the rest of the population goes through.
17Especially in Sydney. The trend will soon be people getting high paying jobs in Sydney then working remote from rural so they can put a roof over their head and have a family.
This will have a knock on effect for those rural communities. Property owners will like the high value on their property but those locals trying to get into their local market with their non-Sydney salaries are going to struggle. That's the can that has been kicked down the road.
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The news in the 21st century is irritating. Yes we are aware that fertility rates are low in Australia and other countries, and the reasons are well publicised. Rehashing is unhelpful and not even informative.
What would be more interesting to read is successful strategies implemented by other countries on how to deal with it.
16Yep. We aren't even young but despite our combined income going up by 40% in the last 2 years, we are still having to cut back on everything after having a kid.
With the cost of available childcare at $140 per day, we only get back $20.
So we are basically stuck. So daycare is like $ 18 an hour. If you earn minimum wage or like in aged care you would be fucked. We are super lucky my partner earns a good wage.
We definitely have to cut back on a lot of things to get by lately but unless I'm earning $60+ an hour, childcare isn't worth it. It's super not worth it if you have to take them home sick and still pay...
just try to do what I can freelance when the baby sleeps. But like shit..if we just scrapped the stage 3 tax cuts..
9Population booms in good times hence the boomers during the post-war economic expansion. It isn't a Children of Men scenario. Parenting is one of if not the biggest economic decision people face in their lives.
No single issue like free child care will change things. Unless we see real wage growth again and better affordability of housing and utilities we won't see higher birth rates. It is a huge sacrifice for many people and turns very stressful in a bad economy.
9It's not even only for the parents themselves. One of my brothers has a kid and he and my sister-in-law are worrying all the time whether my niece will have a good chance at life at all... And their decision to get 1 child was well planned and they are well off and still they worry a lot. Even considering leaving Germany.
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Real wage growth has been stagnant since the late 70's, while productivity and corporate profits have skyrocketed. If we deal with that I think people might be more inclined to have kids.
7Opening the floodgates lets you wring every cent from your existing workforce without threatening future profits. You even get the workforce in now rather than 20 years from now and they'll pay big when they get here for the privledge of joining
4Why would you have a kid knowing they will need to live in a world that will be increasingly inhospitable throughout their lifetime? This is just a basic ethics test - do you care enough about other people, including those yet to be born, to sacrifice your right to have children? The correct answer is pretty obvious.
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