More Australians Feel Poor Under Soaring Living Cost Pressure: Research

Pedestrians move across Market Street in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 22, 2022. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

A new study has found that an increased number of Australians classified themselves as poor or reported financial difficulties in the past 12 months, highlighting the impact of rising living costs on people’s lives.

According to the latest Mapping Social Cohesion report published by Scanlon Foundation Research Institute, 37 percent of the Australians surveyed reported having some sort of financial hardship, a noticeable lift compared to 31 percent in 2021.

Within the above data, 10 percent of the respondents described themselves as poor or struggling to pay bills, up from seven percent in 2021, while one in ten said they often or sometimes went without food due to a lack of money.

In addition, the percentage of people dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their financial situation climbed from 29 percent to 35 percent.

The report also found that financial troubles were occupying the minds of Australians, as four in ten respondents said economic issues were the biggest problem facing the country today.

A store worker unpacks fruit and vegetable produce at Paddy's Market in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 22, 2022. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

James O'Donnell, the report author, said financial well-being had a significant impact on social cohesion.

“ People who are financially struggling and pessimistic about the future report substantially lower levels of national pride and belonging, happiness, and social inclusion,” he said.

The report comes as Australia is facing the highest inflation rate in 22 years (7.3 percent), which has forced the central bank to implement an aggressive interest rate hike policy that has raised mortgage rates around the country.

Consumers are also impacted by soaring energy prices.

Trust in the Government Declines

Meanwhile, as the country navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic in the past two years, there was a decline in Australians’ trust in the government.

Forty-one percent of respondents said they believed the government did the right thing for the people in 2022, down from 44 percent in 2021 and 56 percent in November 2020. However, the figure was still higher than the pre-pandemic levels.

Notably, Australians continued to hold high levels of doubt about the integrity of politicians and the electoral system since 54 percent thought government leaders abused power occasionally, while 24 percent believed that happened most or all of the time.

However, there was an improvement in people’s attitude toward the government’s handling of the pandemic.

Around 68 percent of Australians believed the federal government responded to the pandemic well or very well in 2022, up from 51 percent in 2021.

But the picture was the opposite for state governments, with most of the respondents saying they had experienced a drop in trust in their COVID-19 measures.

“Belief that state governments were handling the crisis very or quite well was remarkably high across all states in 2020,” the report stated.

“While that view has become less common since then, our 2022 survey shows substantial majorities in all states still believe their state government is handling the crisis at least fairly well.”