Rich get richer and the poor get poorer? You don’t say

Some people have done very well under Labour – property speculation has boosted the assets of those that have them – however those on the bottom of the heap are still eating the crumbs wiped off the table. If we want to tackle the type of social issues we have it will only be when we really examine the distribution of wealth in this country.

Families no better off 20 years on
A massive shift of women into paid work over the past 20 years has left the average New Zealand family no better off.

A research project led by Prime Minister Helen Clark's husband, Auckland University sociologist Peter Davis, has found that the median family income, after adjusting for inflation and family size, was just over $37,000 a year in 1981 - and was still just over $37,000 in 2001.

In the same period, the proportion of working women rose from 47 per cent to 61 per cent.

The increase in women was offset by a 20 per cent drop in male fulltime employment, as men moved into self-employment and part-time work and on to benefits.

Families on middle and low incomes have ended up merely holding their own, while high-income families are better off.