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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn COMSEQ excluding Gold Coast 697,088 people (27.4% of people aged 15+) provided unpaid care to children in 2021. Of these, 167,726 people were caring for children other than their own.
The role of unpaid childcare in COMSEQ excluding Gold Coast is determined by many different factors. For example areas with high levels of unpaid child care may have a dominance of single income families with one significant earner, or there could be a lack of provision of paid child care in the area. The level to which people care for others children can also indicate the role of extended family (eg. grandparents caring for grandchildren, family day care).
The role of unpaid child care is a complex one so this topic should be viewed in conjunction with several others, including Household Type, Employment, Household Income and Educational Attendance.
Q:
Derived from the Census question:
'In the last two weeks did the person spend time looking after a child, without pay?', which specifically asks respondents to differentiate between caring for their own children and caring for others children.
| Unpaid childcare | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COMSEQ excluding Gold Coast - Persons aged 15+ (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Unpaid child care | Number | % | Sunshine Coast Council % | Number | % | Sunshine Coast Council % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Provided unpaid child care (all) | 697,088 | 27.4 | 26.1 | 651,913 | 28.8 | 27.8 | +45,175 |
| Cared for own child/ren | 529,362 | 20.8 | 19.6 | 469,642 | 20.7 | 19.9 | +59,720 |
| Cared for other child/ren | 150,152 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 162,700 | 7.2 | 7.1 | -12,548 |
| Cared for own child/ren and other child/ren | 17,574 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 19,571 | 0.9 | 0.8 | -1,997 |
| No unpaid child care provided | 1,698,341 | 66.8 | 68.0 | 1,441,478 | 63.6 | 64.7 | +256,863 |
| Not stated | 146,095 | 5.7 | 5.9 | 172,756 | 7.6 | 7.5 | -26,661 |
| Total persons aged 15+ | 2,541,524 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 2,266,147 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +275,377 |
Dominant groups
Analysis of the unpaid child care provided by the population in COMSEQ excluding Gold Coast in 2021 compared to Sunshine Coast Council shows that there was a higher proportion of people who provided unpaid child care either to their own or to other children. Overall, 27.4% of the population provided unpaid child care, compared with 26.1% for Sunshine Coast Council.
The major differences between the share of the population providing unpaid child care in COMSEQ excluding Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast Council were:
- A larger percentage who provided unpaid childcare for own child/ren (20.8% compared to 19.6%)
- A smaller percentage who did not provide care for children (66.8% compared to 68.0%)
Emerging groups
The number of people who provided unpaid child care for their own and/or other people's children in COMSEQ excluding Gold Coast increased by 45,175 between 2016 and 2021.
The largest changes in the number of people performing unpaid child care in COMSEQ excluding Gold Coast, between 2016 and 2021 were those who:
- No unpaid child care provided (+256,863 persons)
- Cared for own child/ren (+59,720 persons)
- Cared for other child/ren (-12,548 persons)
- Cared for own child/ren and other child/ren (-1,997 persons)
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