The working-age population includes the so-called ‘sandwich generation’—men and women in
their 40s, 50s and 60s who may be helping support teenage children or children in their 20s and 30s
who are still living at home, as well as providing care for younger children, ageing parents, and in
some cases partners and young children from second and third families as well.
The intense caring responsibilities faced by Australians in this age group are covered
comprehensively in two other feature articles in this report—Chapter 2 ‘Informal carers’ and Chapter
5 ‘Who is looking after our children?’—so are not featured here.
The size of the working-age population has implications for the economy, because it accounts
for a large component of Australia’s productive workforce. As outlined in Chapter 1 (see ‘Who we
are’) and Chapter 6 (‘Ageing and the welfare system’), Australia’s population is getting older. Such a
demographic change means that as a greater number of workers retire from the labour force, the
proportion of all people who may be dependent on those still in the labour force will continue to
slowly rise