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The Smith Family and [the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling] NATSEM have developed a suite of indicators that capture aspects of equality of opportunity and social mobility of Australian children and young people, which can be used to assess whether any change is taking place and if so, in what direction. A key goal of this research report is to assess the degree to which our society is able to provide children and young people with the opportunities to develop the skills they need to participate effectively, especially those most financially disadvantaged. Also included in this report is a feature piece that delves further into the concept of intergenerational mobility within Australia. This section looks at an additional set of indicators to test whether those from less advantaged backgrounds have the same likelihood of moving up the social hierarchy to a higher income or occupational ranking as those from more advantaged backgrounds. More than 65 per cent of individuals whose parents had a university degree, attained university qualifications, compared with only 30 per cent attainment for those from more disadvantaged families. Further, 50 per cent of those people whose fathers were managers or professionals ended up in these high status occupational categories, compared with less than 10 per cent of people whose fathers were in the least well paid and lowest status occupations. The report shows that 12.7 per cent of children are currently living in jobless households. More serious still, is the fact that close to three quarters of this group have been living in a household that has been jobless for two or more consecutive years. Knowing that the life chances for this group are considerably poorer, this is a call to action to provide the support these young people need to improve their own circumstances and break out of the cycle of disadvantage.

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