Using 2001–2021 HILDA survey data, this paper estimates how separation or divorce affects poverty and employment trajectories over five years after the event. A difference-in-differences approach compares separated individuals with couples who stayed together, accounting for recent and long-term labour market history prior to separation. Women with preschool children face a 19.9 percentage point higher poverty risk in the first year, which fades within three years. Women with older or no children experience smaller but longer-lasting poverty increases. Pre-separation employment strongly moderates effects: non-employed women face much higher poverty risks than employed women who have similar poverty risks to men. Men’s poverty impacts are smaller and shorter-lived. Separation barely changes women’s employment but slightly reduces men’s employment, especially those with preschool children.