FACTBase 37: Spatial inequality across Perth and Peel: stabilising post-GFC

This FACTBase explores spatial income inequality across Perth in the years leading up to and following the GFC. Australian Taxation Office (ATO) annual personal income data
by postcode for the financial years 2004/05 to 2011/12 is used to create an index of spatial inequality for each of Australia’s capital cities. A lower index value equates to greater equality in the distribution of mean personal incomes across spatial units. Conversely, a higher value demonstrates larger spatial wealth imbalances. This approach allows spatial inequality to be compared across the 40 Statistical Local Areas (SLAs) that make up the Perth and Peel region during the 2005 to 2012 period and against a select number of capital cities in 2012. In addition, 2005 and 2012 incomes across the SLAs are mapped to allow a longitudinal comparison of the ATO data. The index of spatial inequality demonstrates similar patterns at different spatial units. Figure 1 illustrates the 0.1 point difference in spatial inequality at the postcode and SLA level. This is significant given the minor shifts in the index overall. Spatial inequality is reduced when smaller geographic units are considered; that is, postcodes have lower values than larger SLAs. The next section investigates spatial inequality at the Perth and Peel SLA level, whilst the third section uses postcodes to compare Australian capital cities.