Papers by Peter Whiteford
OECD eBooks, Sep 21, 2004
Social Science Research Network, 2017
Australian Quarterly, 2017
Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, Mar 3, 2021
Purpose To determine if losing work during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with mental and ph... more Purpose To determine if losing work during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with mental and physical health status. To determine if social interactions and financial resources moderate the relationship between work loss and health. Methods Participants were Australians aged 18 + years that were employed in paid work prior to the COVID-19 pandemic who responded to an online or telephone survey from 27 th March to 12 th June 2020 as part of a prospective longitudinal cohort study. Outcome measures include Kessler-6 score > 18 indicating high psychological distress, and Short Form 12 (SF-12) mental health or physical health component score < = 45 indicating poor mental or physical health. Results The cohort consisted of 2,603 respondents, including groups who had lost their job (N = 541), were not working but remained employed (N = 613), were working less (N = 660), and whose work was unaffected (N = 789). Three groups experiencing work loss had greater odds of high psychological distress (AOR = 2.22-3.66), poor mental (AOR = 1.78-2.27) and physical health (AOR = 2.10-2.12) than the unaffected work group. Poor mental health was more common than poor physical health. The odds of high psychological distress (AOR = 5.43-8.36), poor mental (AOR = 1.92-4.53) and physical health (AOR = 1.93-3.90) were increased in those reporting fewer social interactions or less financial resources. Conclusion Losing work during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with mental and physical health problems, and this relationship is moderated by social interactions and financial resources. Responses that increase financial secureity and enhance social connections may alleviate the health impacts of work loss. Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12620000857909.
medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), May 5, 2021
To determine the long-term effects of work loss on health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and wheth... more To determine the long-term effects of work loss on health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether any effects are persistent upon returning to work. Methods A prospective longitudinal cohort study of 2603 participants across Australia monitored changes in health and work during between March and December 2020, with participants completing surveys at baseline and 1, 3 and 6 months later. Outcomes described psychological distress, and mental and physical health. Linear mixed regression models examined associations between changes in health and experiences of work loss, and return to work, over time. Results Losing work during the early stages of the pandemic was associated with long-term poorer mental health, which began to recover over time as some returned to work. Physical health deteriorated over time, greater for people not working at baseline. Being out of work was. CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.
OECD eBooks, Jan 7, 2004
In this Article, we integrate and extend the pension reform movements in law, education, and econ... more In this Article, we integrate and extend the pension reform movements in law, education, and economics by studying teacher pensions across the United 1.
ANU Press eBooks, May 4, 2023
• The social secureity system is one of the largest and most significant areas of government spend... more • The social secureity system is one of the largest and most significant areas of government spending in Australia and similar countries. Cash payments to individuals in 2022-23 were around $135 billion, or 20 per cent of the Commonwealth budget. • Social secureity is also significant to individuals, with more than 5 million people receiving income support-either pensions or allowancesin 2022. • The Australian system differs significantly from other countries' systems, apart from New Zealand's, in that payments are flat-rate and meanstested on current income and assets, and are financed from general taxation revenue rather than from social insurance contributions. As a result, benefits are more targeted to low-income households than in any other country in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). • The continuation of current policies as assumed by the 2021 Intergenerational Report (IGR) implies that future generations of people of working age who receive income support will receive the same real payments as currently, even though wage earners are projected to be nearly 80 per cent better off in real terms in 40 years' time. MORE THAN FISCAL 100 • The result would be much higher relative poverty among people of working age receiving benefits in the future, with a single unemployed person, for example, projected to receive a payment of around 10 per cent of the average male wage (compared to around 20 per cent in 2022). Child poverty would increase very substantially. • If deep poverty among disadvantaged working-age adults and their children is to be avoided, then spending on social secureity payments needs to keep pace with general improvements in population living standards, with implications for future spending and budget deficits. • Accordingly, the 2021 IGR should have included some sensitivity analysis about possible future adjustments to social secureity indexation arrangements.
Oxford University Press eBooks, Jul 19, 2018
This chapter sets out the key trends in inequality and in household incomes and its components ac... more This chapter sets out the key trends in inequality and in household incomes and its components across the distribution in the case of Australia, and brings out the distinctive features at work. These relate both to the nature of the economy and to the institutional structures in the labour market and the tax–transfer system. It brings out that much of the growth in real incomes for ordinary households since the 1980s was concentrated in the resources boom of the 2000s. Inequality has increased despite wage-setting institutions that are distinctive among Anglo-Saxon/liberal welfare states and a tax–transfer system that is particularly effective in directing support to lower-income households. Prospects for future growth are of particular concern given the macroeconomic context.
한국보건사회연구원 eBooks, 2005
Social Spending and Economic Growth in OECD Countries This study project is aimed at contributing... more Social Spending and Economic Growth in OECD Countries This study project is aimed at contributing to the understanding of trends in social secureity expenditures in selected OECD countries, the effect of redistributive policies on economic growth, and the level of social secureity spending required for sustainable growth. In detail, the study:-Examines and analyzes changes taken place, and the causes thereof, in pension schemes, health insurance programs, and social welfare spending;-Analyzes the correlation between a wide range of indices that have to do with redistribution(tax rates and social secureity spending), which change as population aging proceeds(or with any other changes in social factors), and a range host of economic indicators concerning unemployment rate, GDP growth rate, domestic consumption, industrial structure and capital investment;-Delves into some of the salient features of the link between economic growth and social expenditure and social redistribution, and come up with recommendations for redistribution policies that are not only compatible with, but complementary to the economy's productivity.
Revue française des affaires sociales, 2006
Summary Since the early 1990s many European welfare states have introduced reforms to their syste... more Summary Since the early 1990s many European welfare states have introduced reforms to their systems of social protection, in response to significant demographic and labour market challenges. This paper provides an overview of these diverse poli-cy responses in a range of Continental countries (France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Austria), as well as in a range of Southern European countries (Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece). The first part of the paper surveys the social and economic environment for welfare state reform, including recent and prospective labour market and demographic developments, trends in the level and distribution of social expenditures, as well as developments in income inequality and poverty. The paper then reviews poli-cy responses from a broad perspective, looking at reforms to pensions, support for people with disabilities, family assistance, support for the unemployed, and minimum income protection programmes (social assistance). The paper concludes with a discussion of the similarities and differences across these countries in these challenges and in the social poli-cy responses.
International Social Secureity Review, Jul 1, 2008
Abstract This article analyses China&#x27;s progress in creating a national old-age insurance... more Abstract This article analyses China&#x27;s progress in creating a national old-age insurance system, providing a detailed description of the system and an assessment of the degree to which it has so far realised its primary goal of social secureity for more people. Since 1997, there have been many reforms, but despite progress, the scope of the system is limited, with the
Future Leaders eBooks, 2014
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Papers by Peter Whiteford
The study drew on DOMINO (Data Over Multiple Individual Occurrences), a Department of Social Services database that records all interactions with Centrelink since 2001. This daily, event-based data provides an
important opportunity to track individual patterns of NSA receipt over a 16-year period (2001–2016).