Depth of social exclusion

We arrived at our composite measure of exclusion by giving weightings to each of the 29 indicators we used – such as low income, unemployment, poor English and poor physical health – to determine a combined score.

Three-quarters of Australians score less than 1 (using the latest 2009 data). People scoring above a total of 1 on our scale are considered to be experiencing some level of exclusion.

People’s experiences of social exclusion can then be divided into three levels: marginal exclusion, deep exclusion and very deep exclusion.

Marginal social exclusion

People scoring 1–2 on our scale are considered to be experiencing marginal social exclusion.

In 2001, approximately 25% of Australians were marginally excluded. This dropped to 19% in 2009. The decrease was most likely to be due to solid economic growth through the decade, which led to record low unemployment before the global financial crisis of 2008–09.

Deep social exclusion

People scoring 2 or more on our scale are considered to be experiencing deep social exclusion.

In 2001, 7.5% of Australians were experiencing deep exclusion. By 2009 this had dropped to 5%, although this is still more than one million Australians experiencing deep social exclusion.

Very deep social exclusion

People scoring 3 or more on our scale are considered to be experiencing very deep social exclusion.

In 2001 we found that 1.3% of Australians were very deeply excluded, and in 2009 this figure was down to 1% – but this still means that nearly 200,000 Australians experience very deep social exclusion each year.

To copy this graph for your own use, right-click on the image (or control-click on a Mac) and paste the graph into your document. Please credit 'The Brotherhood of St Laurence and the Melbourne Institute 2012.

See data table for this graph.

 

The social exclusion monitor is the work of the Brotherhood of St Laurence and the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (MIAESR). This page was updated using analysis of Wave 9 of the HILDA Survey in March 2012.