MESL 2018 Update Report
Issued: June 2018
Summary
The report presents the cost of an MESL in 2018, and benchmarks the adequacy of current social welfare supports and the national minimum wage for a set of 12 common household types.
The minimum income needs of the households are analysed, assessing the income adequacy of social welfare supports and the minimum wage for multiple employment scenarios.
Particular attention is paid to cases of deep income inadequacy, where social welfare supports provide for less than 90% of MESL need, examining the particular features of household compositions and the social welfare system that contribute to this persistent issues.
The adequacy of minimum wage employment, supported by services and in-work social welfare payments as applicable, is examined for the 10 working-age household compositions.
The Minimum Income Standard, the actual gross salary needed to enable an MESL is presented for the 10 working age household compositions, when living in an urban area, comparing the MIS salary requirement for households in social housing and in private rented housing.
The appendix, included with the report, provides detailed income calculation tables for each of the 12 household compositions in all the scenarios presented throughout the report.
Additional MESL Core expenditure tables and income scenarios are available in the Urban & Rural sections of the site.