Treasurer Joe Hockey has played down new findings showing Australians' reliance on government handouts is falling.

The share of household income from government benefits has dropped over the 10 years to 2011, updated data from a long-running government-funded Melbourne Institute-managed survey shows.

In 2003 households got $1 in every $4 from the government but by 2011 this had fallen to $1 in every $5.

"Joe Hockey says there is a crisis - that is a lie," opposition welfare spokeswoman Jenny Macklin told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

Last week, the treasurer said the average taxpayer had to work for a month to pay for the welfare of a fellow Australian and argued too many Australians relied on government payments.

However, the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey says there is an encouraging trend of declining welfare reliance among people of working age and the elderly.

It especially noted a drop in the number of single parents reliant on welfare.

A spokeswoman for Mr Hockey said the economy was in a different place in 2014 compared to 2011 - the year for which the most updated HILDA data is available.

"That mining boom is now disappearing and there is a growing reliance on welfare in the next decade," she said in a statement.

"The priority is to get people back into the workforce so they never start a life on welfare."