The Gold Coast Bulletin

Australian­s feel the pinch

Report says childcare, utility costs hitting hard

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MORE Australian­s are renting and many people are under increasing financial strain driven by soaring childcare and utility costs.

Despite this, reliance on welfare has fallen and women are becoming more educated.

The Housing, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia report, released yesterday, first started delving into the lives of more than 17,000 Australian­s in 2001 and has continued to monitor this segment of the population since then.

The University of Melbourne study, conducted by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, showed rising cost worries had resulted in financial stress being “quite high”.

The report found median weekly expenditur­e on childcare for children not yet at school had risen from $71 in 2002-03 for two-parent households to $154 in 2015-16.

In the same period this had climbed from $44 to $102 for single-parent families.

Utility costs are also hitting hard, mean household spending on power bills climbed from $1727 in 2006-08 to $2118 in the 2015-16.

Wages grew strongly from 2001-09 – the mean salary climbed by $2447 a year or $19,573 in this period.

But wages have experience­d a drastic slowdown.

Australian­s are becoming increasing­ly educated – of those aged 25 to 64 with university degrees this climbed for men from 22.6 per cent in 2011 to 31.1 per cent in 2016.

For women it rose from 22.6 per cent to 35.7 per cent in the same period.

The report also shows the lack of home ownership is real.

More people are being pushed further from the “great Australian dream” – in 2016 it found 28 per cent lived in private rental accommodat­ion, up from 23 per cent in 2001.

For households hit by financial stress it seems there is little way out.

About 54 per cent of those in financial stress one year are likely to continue to be in stress the following year.

And single-parent families are among those hardest hit. The report’s author, Roger Wilkins, pictured, said the report highlighte­d more people were enduring financial pressures and unable to buy property.

“Real incomes aren’t growing but they are not shrinking either,’’ Professor Wilkins said.

“House prices have been the really big one where until very recently they have grown very strongly and this has resulted in the increase in the number of people renting.”

Those hardest hit are usually in capital cities.

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