Survey finds 33pc worse off

More than 1.1 million adults are ending the year worse off than they started it, data from Horizon Research suggests.

Among the groups most likely to say their finances had suffered were business owners, single parents, and people who were already on low incomes before the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded.

Overall, Horizon’s polling suggested 33 per cent of adults felt their financial position had worsened during the year, with 50 per cent saying their position had not changed and 16 per cent feeling they were better off.

People in regions dominated by agriculture such as Waikato, Otago and Taranaki were most likely to say they were ending the year better off than they began it.

Horizon’s Graeme Colman said: ‘‘The pandemic hasn’t cut evenly, and some are reporting their households are ending the past year in much better positions.’’

The results were based on polling covering nearly 1600 adults nationwide.

There was a particularly high proportion of people aged 35-44 who had seen their finances worsen during the year, Colman said. ‘‘Forty-three per cent of 35to 44-year-olds feel their households are worse off – the highest of any age group.’’

Horizon Research

People living in extended families were also much more likely to say they had suffered financially in 2020, he said.

‘‘Some 46 per cent of those types of households say they’re worse off, compared with 33 per cent overall,’’ Colman said.

Similarly, 41 per cent of those in one-parent households with three or more children were feeling worse off, along with 40 per cent of single-parent households with one or two children at home.

One-parent families were also much more likely to be struggling. Forty per cent of singleparent households with one or two children at home said their finances had worsened in 2020.

Colman said Horizon’s findings were in line with reports on how hard the pandemic had been on some kinds of households.

Despite a drop in interest rates for bank deposits, the group least likely to report being worse off were people aged 65 or over.

The age group most likely to feel better off than they were at the start of the year were those aged 25-34. Colman said 25 per cent felt their finances had improved, compared with the national average of 16 per cent.

The polling did not ask whether the people surveyed owned their own homes.

By occupation, businesspeople were more likely than average to feel their households were financially worse off. Coleman said: ‘‘Forty-three per cent of business managers and executives feel they’re worse off.’’

Many top executives took pay cuts during the year.

The regions with the greatest proportion of adults who felt they had become worse off were the West Coast, where 53 per cent said their households were worse off, and Canterbury, where 44 per cent felt worse off.

‘‘Forty-three per cent of business managers and executives feel they’re worse off.’’ Graeme Colman