death of the single income family

So said the headline in today's Sunday Star Times. Read it. Apparently $55,000 a year is not enough to raise a family. The article profiled a couple with four kids struggling on a teachers wage and student loans.

The fact is that many families where both partners are working full time are not earning much more than $55,000. Many are earning less if one partner is working part time. Although they are entitled to greater income support, it doesn't stop the bills coming in.

The article was not just about the dying lone-breadwinner family. It was expressing the expectation that a family on $55,000 - irrespective of whether one or both partners work - should be able to get by without scraping the barrel, rather than having the standard of living of a family on $34,000 with associated income support.