The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and UNSW Sydney have recently released a report on the relationship between income and health.

The report, Work, Income and Health Inequity, finds that:

  • People in the highest income group are twice as likely (60%) to report their health status as good, very good or excellent, compared with only 33% of those in the lowest income group.
  • People on social security payments under 65 were considerably more likely to have asthma (19%) than those whose main income was wages or salary (11%).
  • Half of people on social security payments under 65 report mental health conditions (50%). This is over twice as many as those whose main source of income is wages or salary (18%).
  • Over a third of people on social security payments under 65 report high psychological distress (36%), compared with 10% of people whose main source of income is wages or salary.

This report is written by representatives of the Centre for Health Equity Training Research Evaluation (CHETRE) and the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) at UNSW Sydney, and by representatives of ACOSS.

Download the report

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