As the authors point out, these trends have massive social implications. Another worrying trend is the concentration of unemployment in particular neighborhoods and families. The proportion of families with nobody employed was 11 per cent in 1979 and 17 per cent in 1995, while the proportion of families with one income earner fell from 53 per cent to 36 per cent, and the number of two income families rose from 36 per cent to 47 per cent. The study shows that three times as many jobs were lost in poor areas as richer areas. These trends produce a situation in which the increasing participation of women in jobs has been concentrated in areas of high socio-economic status.
Growth is still central to solving unemployment.
But the study points out that the real constraint on growth is Australia's failure to develop competitive firms in areas such as pharmaceuticals, aerospace, computing and communications. Developing these would do more to ease the balance of payments constraint on growth than do the current obsessions with inflation, wages, and budget deficits. But the fruits of growth will be distributed unevenly unless governments adopt innovative policies in education and training and income distribution. The Age Company Ltd 2000. Any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited.