Miner relationship woes overblown

MINERS are no more likely to be involved in divorce or relationship breakdown than workers in other occupations, according to new research at CQUniversity.

Despite the common belief that employment in the mining sector with the associated fly-in, fly-out work rosters and long shifts are bad for marriages, Rockhampton-based senior research officer Lindsay Greer has found miners enjoy a lower than average rate of divorce and separation.

Mr Greer studied census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (1996, 2001, 2006) to see if there was any evidence to back up the anecdotal assumption that family break-up was more prevalent in the industry.

“It is assumed that higher rates of divorce and separation are one of the social ills of mining but I wanted to produce a paper based on hard evidence rather than assumptions,” he said.

The hard facts tell a different story.

In Queensland (in 2006) the divorce and separation rate across all industries was 11.99%, but in mining it was 10.86%. And across Australia while the average was 11.26%, in mining it was 11.15%.

“It is not to say that they're aren't problems linked to the mining industry or that FIFO doesn't cause issues, but it seems mining is not troubled by a high divorce rate,” he said.

Mr Greer says there is no official data on the specific impact of FIFO work practices on family life and he acknowledges that there are limitations associated with his research.

“Perhaps the reason we think there's more divorce and separation in mining families is that the workforce is more geographically spread.

“You are more likely to run into people in the industry now than in the past so you are more likely to hear stories about how couples have split.

“You don't take any notice when you learn that a dentist has got divorced, but when you are told that a miner's marriage has ended, it reinforces the stereotype.”