The modern family challenge

The percentage of families with both parents working has jumped 18 percentage points to 58 per cent since the 1980s while more than a quarter of women are now their family’s main breadwinner, according to the latest AMP.NATSEM report.

The report, which analyses data from a variety of sources spanning 2001 to 2011, found more than half a million, or one in four, Australian households have a woman as the main income earner.

Surprisingly, the report found that marriages are lasting longer than they used to, with the average duration up 20 per cent to 12 years, and the divorce rate stabilising at 2.2 divorces per 1,000 marriages.

Blended families are on the rise, representing 11 per cent of families with children, compared to 6.8 per cent in 1986.

In the last decade, the number of same-sex couples has jumped 72 per cent to 33,714, with growth concentrated in non-metropolitan areas.

AMP chief customer officer Paul Sainsbury said today’s modern family was unrecognisable from the nuclear family of past decades, which had the potential to cause financial hardship.

Given the statistics, he urged Australians to get their house in order in case of future problems.

“The cost of raising children, financial stress from divorce or coping in challenging economic times can have a significant impact on family stability, so it’s important that Australian families have their finances in order before challenges crop up,” he said.