The challenge
Income and earnings are most often used to measure disadvantage in Australia, but this single indicator does not go far enough to capture the many overlapping factors that exclude a person from participating fully in social and economic life.
The research
In 2008, the Melbourne Institute began working with the Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL) to develop a new method of measuring social exclusion in Australia. This prompted the research and publication of the Social Exclusion Monitor (SEM) in 2011.
Drawing on the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, the SEM was regularly updated up until 2020.
The impact
The SEM recorded who experiences social exclusion, including demographics such as gender, age, country of birth, indigenous background, health, education, household type and housing. These data provide a benchmark for the prevalence, depth and persistence of social exclusion, drawing attention to the need for policies that address interrelated factors to improve the quality of life for disadvantaged Australians.
Melbourne Institute and BSL have since developed Australia’s first comprehensive multidimensional poverty index to track deprivation across multiple domains including health, education, employment, housing and social connection.
Our researchers
Melbourne Institute – Roger Wilkins, Rosanna Scutella, Francisco Azpitarte
Brotherhood of St. Laurence – Michael Horn
Our partner
Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL)
Publications
- Was Pro-Poor Economic Growth in Australia good for the Income-Poor? And for the Multidimensionally-Poor?
- Measuring Poverty and Social Exclusion in Australia: A Proposed Multidimensional Framework for Identifying Socio-Economic Disadvantage
- Estimates of Poverty and Social Exclusion in Australia: A Multidimensional Approach