Selected 2010 Publications

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Why are a group of mid-life men on the margins of work and family? A literature review

Paul Callister and David Rea, October 2010
Available from Institute of Policy Studies [480KB PDF]

Abstract: Since the 1960s and 1970s New Zealand and other industrialised countries have moved from a situation where most mid-life men were

in full-time paid work
married and living with dependent children
highly unlikely to be in receipt of benefit income, and
most likely to be economically supporting their partner and children.

However in recent decades social and economic changes have radically altered these life course arrangements. In a companion paper we document the decline in mid-life male participation in employment and families. We focus particularly on the emergence of a small, but significant, group of low-skilled mid-life men who are neither employed nor living with partners and children. These men on the margins of paid work and family life do not appear to have benefited from the liberalisation of either sex roles or the labour market over recent decades.

In this paper we review the New Zealand and international literature that has sought to explain both the decline of employment and family life amongst mid-life men, as well as the inter connections between paid work and participation within families. Our reading of the literature, together with our interpretation of the descriptive New Zealand data, is that the labour market has been a key driver of the observed changes.

We argue that a decline in demand for low-skilled manual labour, and an increase in labour market competition, has restricted opportunities for some mid-life men. Declining employment and stagnating earnings may has also have influenced the extent of partnering and male participation in family life.

A loss of 'white' male privilege? Gender and ethnic dimensions of domestic student participation in bachelor degree studies

Paul Callister, September 2010
Available from Institute of Policy Studies [590KB PDF]

Abstract: Population growth means an increasing number of young people are likely to want to enrol in bachelor degree study. However, constrained government finances have led to the government capping funding.

The result is that many education providers are restricting entry to courses. One way to restrict entry is to set academic requirements that are higher than the University Entrance requirements. However, institutions, as well as many people in wider society, recognise the need to support diversity and social justice within education and ensure no groups are significantly under-represented.

Historically, those groups most under-represented in bachelor degree study were women, Māori, and Pasifika. Now, women are significantly over-represented in most areas of study. Overall, women have higher levels of academic achievement, so are more likely to gain entry to bachelors study than men. However, Māori and Pasifika women remain significantly under-represented on some measures and European men are either strongly or slightly under-represented depending on what measure is used.

The groups most clearly under-represented on all key measures are Māori and Pasifika males. Given the rapid demographic and social change taking place in New Zealand society, education providers need to take great care when designing policies to restrict entry to bachelor-level study or to help a particular group to ensure such policies are fair and transparent.

Ethnic mobility: is it important for research and policy analysis?

Paul Brown, Paul Callister, Kristie Carter and Ralf Engler, August 2010
Available from Institute of Policy Studies [358KB PDF]

Abstract: While some within the research community have long been aware of ethnic mobility, the growth of the New Zealander response in the 2006 census demonstrated to the wider public that ethnic responses can change over time. Subsequent New Zealand studies of ethnic mobility highlight that it is important especially for Māori and Pacific people.

While the current ethnic measures used in official statistics are sufficiently robust for most of the policy uses made of them in New Zealand, the dynamic nature of ethnic identity poses some problems for consistent statistical measurement of ethnicity. As such, there needs to be ongoing monitoring, investigation and discussion by researchers to progress understanding of ethnic identity dynamics over lifecycles and over time.

This is required not only to ensure measurement quality, but to broadly map the changing cultural fabric of New Zealand society, and in particular to identify more clearly where disadvantage lies.

"Essential" workers in the dairy industry

Paul Callister and Rupert Tipples
Available from Institute of Policy Studies [270KB PDF]

Abstract: Over the past decade the dairy industry has grown in land area, number of cows, milk production and dairy exports to the point where it is New Zealand's premier exporter. This growth has been associated with significant structural changes to the industry.

In particular, there has been a widespread conversion from small, family-owned and managed farms that were traditionally characterised by high levels of self-employment to large-scale "factory" style farms that are dependent upon non-family, mainly casualised, and partially seasonal labour who typically work long hours.

Not surprisingly, the industry has been plagued by issues of recruitment and retention of employees and its social sustainability has been in question.

The future of the dairy industry to a large degree depends on its people. In both the shorter and the longer terms a migrant component to the dairy farm labour force will be essential.

There is a question as to whether this migrant labour can be provided in a way that gives benefits to all stakeholders as has been achieved so far via the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme for horticulture and viticulture.

A profound change in the dairy industry may be necessary to ensure that stakeholders make the effort necessary to negotiate such a multi-win outcome. That needs to be supported by an evidence base to ensure an enduring rather than a temporary solution.

The Mysterious Case of the Housemaid: Domestic Workers in New Zealand Law

Jessie Williams, Lisa Tortell and Paul Callister (2009 [published in 2010]),
New Zealand Law Review, Part 4: 695-723.

Abstract: In New Zealand, domestic work was once an important source of paid employment for women, with shortages of workers met by migration from the British Isles. While it had almost disappeared as a paid occupation after the Second World War, a number of reasons suggest a likely increase in paid domestic workers in the near future, probably met, again, by migration.

Nevertheless, little is known about New Zealand's domestic workers and on the face of it, many of the arrangements appear to be labour-only relationships between the homeowners and the workers. However, paid domestic work fits uncomfortably with labour law, principally because the workplace is the private home. This has meant that, overall, paid domestic work has, in a variety of ways, been a private matter in New Zealand, with the law left to attempt reconciliation between the roles and responsibilities of the "employer" and the homeowners' mentality that one's house is one's castle.

At the international level, the International Labour Organization has decided to include the issue of standard-setting on the agenda of the 99th Session of the International Labour Conference in 2010. This, but more importantly the demands of the ageing population, will make the place of domestic workers in New Zealand law a more current question, necessitating an analysis of how they are presently covered by the law, whether the precariousness and vulnerability that characterize much of the overseas experience can be seen on the ground in New Zealand and whether further legal regulation, or at the very least a review, is required.

Older Women - Younger Men Relationships: The Social Phenomenon of 'Cougars'. A Research Note

Zoe Lawton and Paul Callister, January 2010
Available from Institute of Policy Studies [415 KB PDF]

Abstract: Couples where the woman is significantly older than her male partner currently have a high prominence in national and international media and in popular culture. The women in such arrangements have attracted a colloquial label, 'cougar'.

This arrangement represents a break from the past when generally the male was the older partner. Our initial analysis of census data suggests that the extent of the older woman - younger male couple is exaggerated by the media. Nevertheless, the data indicate it is an important group and its size does seem to have been growing since the 1980s, at least for those living together in the same households.

Like other researchers we also suspect that the number of couples where the woman is older who form long-term relationships is considerably smaller than the number of such couples who have had short-term relationships.

Our brief canvassing of theories of partner choice suggests there are social and economic reasons for further growth of this type of partnering arrangement. If there is further significant growth, it is likely the somewhat negative predatory term 'cougar' will disappear or at least change its current connotations.

Changes in paid work for mid-life couples between 1981 and 2006: A research note

Paul Callister, Martin von Randow, David Rea and Gerard Cotterell, January 2010
Available from Institute of Policy Studies [284 KB PDF]

Abstract: Major changes in paid work and living arrangements have taken place for mid-life men and women in New Zealand since the early 1980s. When the variables are looked at independently, we find fewer such men and women living as couples, fewer men and more women in paid work, and fewer men and women living with dependent children.

When these variables are brought together we see an increasing diversity of living arrangements (including whether a person lives with children) and work arrangements. This includes some growth in the proportion of women and men who are not employed, not partnered, and not living with children. When only those living in couples are considered we also see an increasing diversity of work arrangements.

This diversity has emerged over periods of economic decline and economic growth. However, some of this diversity could also be characterised as polarisation with growth in both work-rich and work-poor couples. Although a strong labour market to 2006 substantially reduced the proportion of work-poor couples, they were not back to the proportions seen in 1981 or 1986.

This lends some support to the Gregg and Wadsworth (1994) hypothesis that recessions in recent decades increase the number of work-poor households, but in times of strong economic growth do not reduce the number of work-poor households to the same extent. In addition, within the work-poor couples, a larger proportion has both partners not in the labour force, indicating perhaps a higher level of disconnect from the labour market than seen in the past.

Lost in transition: New Zealand's missing men

Paul Callister, December 2010
Australasian Epidemiologist, 17(3): 18-10.

Abstract: Both national and international literature indicate that outcomes for a group of mid life males in countries such as New Zealand and Australia are also very different to what they would have been in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. Mid life males, as a group, are less likely to be in paid work, to be partnered and live with dependent children.

Some of the change has been positive. There has been an expansion of the possible work and living arrangements open to males. For example gay men no longer need to try and mould themselves into traditional marriages, some fathers can choose to be 'househusbands' or undertake study while their partner supports them and couples can voluntarily decide to be 'childfree'. But despite a range of new found freedoms and gains for some groups, there have also been some very negative changes.

Historically, low skilled males were a major focus of policy - the breadwinner model - which focussed on reinforcing the social expectation that men's role was in work and married. There now needs to be a renewed focus on males. However rather than attempting to return the world to the 1950s, the task for policy makers is to consider how best to create policy settings that are effective for the contemporary structure of work and family life.

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