Author Description

This report investigates the role and impact of housing wealth, housing debt, and housing assistance on people's employment decisions. It looks at current housing assistance arrangements, housing wealth, mortgages, and bequests and parental cash transfers, which are typically financed through housing wealth, lower work effort, and participation in skills and training programs. Key findings include: housing wealth seems to help older people regain employment and help precariously employed younger home owners secure their employment; rising levels of mortgage indebtedness appear to be extending working lives; beneficiaries of parental cash transfers have better educational qualifications and higher bank account balances than non-beneficiaries, though their participation in the labour force is roughly the same. Data is taken from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The findings will help inform policies to increase employment participation rates in the face of population ageing.