NCSMC

National Council of Single Mothers and their Children Inc.

220 Victoria Square Tarndanyangga Adelaide SA 5000 Ph: 0882262505 Fax: 0882262509

MEDIA RELEASE 10^TH September 2004

SOLE PARENTS WELCOME PROMISE OF EXTRA HELP T0 GET WORK

Extra help with child care and access to training, announced in the ALP Families in Work package will address some major barriers to the paid workforce for single mothers, according to the Convenor of the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children, Dr Elspeth McInnes.

The steady rise in childcare costs has deterred many single parents from working, along with the need for expensive training. ‘Single parents struggle to find the dollars to pay for the re-skilling needed to compete in the modern labour market and many are consequently forced into low paid insecure unskilled jobs which barely cover the extra child care costs,’ said Dr McInnes.

She noted that supporting parents to invest in their workforce skills was an important contribution to lifting future family living standards. ‘Like partnered mothers, most single mothers want to go back to work as their children get older, but we do need to make sure that the supports such as childcare and training are there. The Families in Work package goes a long way towards supporting parents to get into paid work and stay there.’

ENDS