It’s official: Aussies are getting poorer, and there’s no blaming the humble avo.
According to data released by the ABS, the level of “household gross disposable income” – the amount of dosh us average folk have left over after tax – has been on a steady decline for the past 18 months.
It’s BS news on its own, before you consider that this is the first time in over 30 years that it’s happened, including periods of economic decline. In short: we’ve been stuffed out of our money consistently for almost two years.
Same, Angry. Same.
Disposable income is currently sitting at $29,640 per household per year. Six months ago, that was $31,960 per household. Altogether, we’ve collectively lost about $20.4 billion in spending money in six months. In other words, if household gross disposable income was an AFL team, they’d be Richmond.
The main reason? Unemployment, underemployment (when you have a job but aren’t earning enough to live), and wage growth have all stagnated. And in case you were wondering, another major factor has been a shift of the majority of taxes from corporations and high-income earners to low- and middle-income earners. So yeah, the proverbial fat cats are also kind-of to blame for this one. Thanks.
Pictured: An accurate representation of what rich people do with money.
This decline doesn’t just affect your ability to buy the latest pair of Yeezys or see the next Marvel movie in cinemas (although it certainly does). The economy counts on us to spend our disposable income to keep sectors like retail, hospitality, entertainment, and transport afloat.
So we’re not just getting poorer, but we might be bringing the economy down with us. Great.
Source: The New Daily.
