Grasping the Nettel: lots of cash but no time to enjoy it
by Bernard Salt on Oct.19, 2009, under Uncategorized
FORGET the Fockers — meet the Nettels. Don’t know the Nettels? They’re the newest, the edgiest, the hippest life form to emerge from the nation’s primal demographic soup.
Not Enough Time To Enjoy Life, or NETTEL, refers to the rising pool of households headed by two high-income-earning, full-time-working parents with dependent children up to the age of 24.
At the 2006 Census there were 129,000 Nettel households in
The distinguishing feature of Nettel households is the way that both parents whip out their BlackBerries after dinner so that they can plot, scheme and diarise the next day’s activities.
About five per cent of all traditional nuclear families are Nettels but in some areas this proportion rises well above the national average.
The nation’s undisputed Nettel hotspot is the suburb of Curtin in
Other Nettel hotspots include Paddington in
Given the rising pressure on families to keep up with the latest technologies and consumer goods I suspect that Nettel households are here to stay.
The term “Nettel” coined by Bernard Salt was quoted in the New Vocabulary section of the New York Times website within two days of release in
November 4th, 2009 on 2:04 pm
Bernard Salt, just some constructive criticism, do you think that low income earners don’t matter? I read one article where you said “those not living in the western suburbs are nobodys” and in man drought you ruled out suitors who earn below 70K. While its true that many in this bracket wouldn’t understand what demographer means, its a bit offensive.
January 11th, 2010 on 2:28 pm
I’m sorry but there is just no way I would ever have made a statement like “those not living in the western suburbs are nobodys”. Not sure where you got that from. I take your point rgeading man drought and the $70k cut off.
November 9th, 2009 on 3:09 am
I think you are missing something in your methodology. Your definition of nettle includes both parents work full time and are high income earners. In your Australian article you estimate that there are some 129,000 nettle households. This seems an extraordinarily high number of ‘alpha couples’ who use blackberries and work in the types of jobs that require mobile email access.
Perhaps I’m misinterpreting, but it seems like you are just counting joint household income greater than $110,000 with dependent children under 24? I assume this is after tax income because $110,000 doesn’t sound like a lot. Does your methodology dilineate between individual incomes, because joint income is irrelevant for this demographic. Eg husband makes 100k, wife makes 40k.
January 11th, 2010 on 2:26 pm
I chose $100k joint income pre tax because higher filters eliminatred too many people. You may not think it’s much but income levels drop off quickly after this amount (in 2006)
November 26th, 2009 on 4:13 pm
great term - am surprised only 15% of curtin ppl apply though! the question is, why do they do it? is it just oz? why don’t we stop? funnily enough, this aligns to comments about the amount of overtime we do from yesterday’s go home on time day…
January 11th, 2010 on 2:29 pm
15% is a high proportion. It’s one household in six in this demographic!
December 16th, 2009 on 7:35 pm
Very interesting article, particularly relevant to my business as a personal concierge, helping time poor people find time. You mention Burnley in Adelaide, but perhaps you mean Melbourne? I would be interested to know which suburbs in Adelaide you feel are ‘Nettel hotspots’.
January 11th, 2010 on 2:22 pm
Did I have Burnley? I meant Burnside in Adelaide!