Australia's Falling Living Standards

Election FactCheck: Has the Coalition presided over the most sustained fall in Australian living standards since records began?

Feel like you’re going backwards financially? This depressing graph explains why.

Living standards have not risen since December 2011.

 

pretty sure we are all going to be ok.......

 

Everything above 0% on the graph is an increase in household income growth ...which is the whole graph.

 

I only seem to be going better and better.

*shrugs*

 

The world is about to end!!!! Better sell everything!!!

 

Critics of Australia's population Ponzi scheme have pointed out that this would occur.

 

Rather than mock the OP, we might all want to simply take on board the info passed on to us, and make plans for our future situations based on a possible bad news scenario.

Doom and Gloom articles are not necessarily a bad thing; they are there to help us to steer our ship - watching for storms on the horizon, and to navigate away from them....

 

We have had 25 years of growth in this country. There is a generation of people who don't even know what hard times are. A fall in living standards at this stage equats to one less iphone or LED tv for the household or skipping Friday night take out.

 

Yes; the Economy figures show growth most of the time, but I think you may find that a decent number of folks are experiencing either wages not keeping up with inflation, and/or falling in real terms against the CPI.

When you see such things as Council rates, Health insurance, Utilities etc continuing to go up, while the vast majority of blue collar (and lower) wage earners - of which the economy is mostly made up of...are not seeing many significant pay rises in comparison; you may see that these folks are going backwards.

This forum is made up mostly of higher-income and professionally employed folks these days; this is not a true representation of the society generally.

 

This forum is made up off people having a go. You're right, it's not a true representation of society because most of society never take a shot.

If this country wasn't so prosperous though a forum like this wouldn't even exist, there would be no property culture and no wealth creation.

 

I agree, but I was talking about folks' tracking against the Economy growth.

The Average Joe's living expenses are going up at a faster rate than their incomes.

 

What I love about the Aussie Battler is the fact they all need somewhere to live... and they still want a roof over their heads....
Not too many are downsizing to trailer park living due to their circumstances....

 

Very true unfortunately.

A lot of professional jobs in Australia will move to lower cost countries...which for some time is affecting the middle to upper middle class. Job security is much less...this is also affecting people's perceptions.

The good news...money flows into Australia by foreign investors will continue. The Chinese will be replaced by other countries as China grapples with its own economic issues. Vietnamese, Indians, Indonesians, Filipinos might take up the slack...

All part of the change...just in the 80s to mid nineties it was the Japanese...the it was the Chinese...there will be new group soon...

 

The first chart looks like a chart of coal and iron ore prices. Real household income growth would naturally be higher in a commodities boom.



See ya's.

 

But they are effectively downsizing to places a long way from where they would prefer to live...a lot fewer people own their own home now than 25 years ago. Homes now owned more by older investors instead who can afford the deposit easier, government policy encouraging this shift not too intelligent.

 

I don't know your definition of a lot fewer, the swing seems fairly mild from the picture the ABS paints from what I can see (given it doesn't come right the the present day).

A few years of negative real household income was surely inevitable after such strong growth.

 

Its gone from about 70% to 67%, doesn't seem like a lot but thats hundreds of thousands of people. Though the biggest drop (as evident in your graph) is in younger people under 35, a lot fewer owners now, dropped from around 48% to 38%. Also now 25% of households renting off private investors, used to be 18% 20 years ago.

 

That is not true. There are a lot of countries which are considerably poorer, though forums like that exist and prosper, property culture is pretty good and wealth creation is made a lot faster.
Most of society doesn't think that money is everything, and some - like me stopped thinking this way.

 

The good news...money flows into Australia by foreign investors will continue. The Chinese will be replaced by other countries as China grapples with its own economic issues. Vietnamese, Indians, Indonesians, Filipinos might take up the slack...

All part of the change...just in the 80s to mid nineties it was the Japanese...the it was the Chinese...there will be new group soon...[/QUOTE]
It might not happen. China will take all those countries with it on the road to stagnation. Except India, but I don't believe in India for different reasons.