Analysis of labour market shifts based only on individuals disguises important aspects of employment change. When employment change at the household level is also analysed, a better understanding can be gained of changes in the distribution of work and income across society.
Such an analysis shows that in New Zealand since the mid 1980s work has become more evenly distributed within households but more unequally distributed across households.
While age, education, geographic location and tax/benefit systems all have some influence on the employment status of households these factors leave much unexplained about the differences in household employment patterns.