Are occupational choices affecting housing choices?
Judy Yates
University of Sydney
Contact Email:   J.Yatesecon.usyd.edu.au

In both the UK and US, many of the jobs for lower paid workers in occupations considered important to the proper functioning of the city are in areas of high housing costs. This has led to concerns that employers are experiencing recruitment and retention problems for such workers.

This paper will provide some early results from an AHURI research project on the interaction between housing and labour markets in Sydney. The results will focus specifically on affordability outcomes in 2001 and changes between 1996 and 2001 in the residential and employment locations of low and moderate income households, with a focus on those in specific occupations (nursing, computing and cleaning) selected as 'indicator occupations' to reflect the emergence of what in the UK and US has been called the 'key worker' or 'essential worker' problem.

They are occupations on the general skills shortages lists in Australia at present. They are also occupations for which there is expected to be a growing demand in the future as a result of the continuing economic restructuring from old to new economy activities and from production of goods to service provision. At the same time, they are occupations which include both low and moderately paid workers as well as better paid workers and for which there is likely to be a quite different geographical spread of employment opportunities and, as a result, of housing opportunities.

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