By Simon Collins

NZHerald

“A massive shift of women into paid work over the past 20 years has left the average New Zealand family no better off.

A research project led by Prime Minister Helen Clark’s husband, Auckland University sociologist Peter Davis, has found that the median family income, after adjusting for inflation and family size, was just over $37,000 a year in 1981 – and was still just over $37,000 in 2001.”

Families on middle and low incomes have ended up merely holding their own, while high-income families are better off.

A sociologist in the team, Gerard Cotterell, said other measures also showed that real wages had been static or falling over the past 20 years.

Benefit levels were cut in the late 1980s and particularly in 1991 and had never recovered in real terms.

“It’s kind of stunning,” he said.

“Income inequality has increased in Western countries.

“What’s scary in New Zealand is that it hasn’t got better under Labour. There are more people in employment, but it’s low-paid employment.”

Then the article explains how the stats are founded with this line at the end…

so that it is not affected by social changes such as the trend towards more sole-parent families.

But dear me, taxpayers have 3 generations of sole parents to look after till death yet. LOL.