The Australian middle class,1986-1995: stable,declining or restructuring?

This article uses Australian Bureau of Statistics data to examine the changing fortunes of the professional-managerial middle class in Australia between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s. It examines employment levels, gender patterns of employment, and relative earnings amongst professional and managerial workers. Results show considerable variation between occupational groups, though there is little evidence of the general 'crisis' of the middle class diagnosed by some writers. The complex picture suggests several patterns. First, there is a tendency for the more private sector, market-oriented occupations (such as private sector managers and 'business professionals') to have experienced rising employment levels and relative earnings, especially in the second half of the period, while more state dependent occupations have faced the opposite. Second, and cross-cutting the first tendency, lower level managers have fared far less well than upper level ones, indicating an increasing bifurcation in managerial ranks. Third, some heavily state dependent professional groups, particularly those with elite professional status or strong trade union-like organisation, have been quite successful in resisting the negative impacts of the squeeze on the state sector. Finally, feminisation of all middle class occupations has continued apace throughout the period, although from highly variable starting points.