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Article: The impact of recent changes in family assistance on partnering and women's employment in New Zealand.(Report)
- Article from:
- New Zealand Economic Papers
- Article date:
- June 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 New Zealand Association of Economists. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I. Introduction
Recently enacted changes in Family Assistance, by offering more generous benefits to families, are expected to reduce child poverty by one-third (MSD 2006). As side effects, the changes alter the relevant benefit of both partnering (marriage or cohabitation) and work for low- income families. The new rules offer expanded benefits which increase the number of families eligible, and reduced abatement rates which raise net wages and could affect labour supply. Since benefits are abated based on family income, the programme can also result in "partnering penalties" whereby a partnered couple receives less total benefits than the sum of individual ...