Number of Aussie stay-at-home dads including jobless men rise

SYDNEY, April 5 (Xinhua) -- More Australian families have stay-at-home dads, including jobless men who look after the children, according to the latest census figures.

The number of stay-at-home fathers rose from 68,500 in 2011 to about 80,000 in 2016 when they made up 4.6 percent of all two-parent families, the Australian Institute of Family Studies government agency said in a statement on Thursday.

"These stay-at-home fathers are a diverse group including dads with ill-health, a disability or who are out of work, as well as those choosing to stay home to care for children," said institute director Anne Hollonds. The level was similar to those in comparable countries such as the United States and Canada, she said.

"The increase in the number of stay-at-home dads from 2011 to 2016 reflected increases in the numbers of fathers that were unemployed or not in the labor force, but they were still far from a homogenous group," said the institute's senior research fellow Dr Jennifer Baxter.

Australia's unemployment rate was 5.6 percent in February, up from 5.5 percent in January, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Stay-at-home fathers were older on average (43 years) than fathers in families with stay-at-home mothers (38 years), and fathers in dual-working families (41 years), said the institute.

They also tended to have lower levels of education than fathers in dual-working families and those where the mother is at home.

Employment policies can help support stay-at-home fathers by providing opportunities for them to take time out of work, or make use of flexible job arrangements, said Baxter.

Such moves were important "given the need today for mothers as well as fathers to stay connected to employment, even across the years that child care demands are greatest", she said. Enditem