Cost of living squeezes workers

Vanguard July 2013 p. 12
Contributed

Even the big business media cannot ignore the rising cost of living for working people. Two common contributors to the rising cost of living that receive some attention in the media are cost of housing and the cost of utilities.

There is evidence to support this. In the Howard years, house prices outstripped average workers’ income by a factor of three to one. (www.housingstress.org.au ). Nothing much has changed since then.

Another study shows that the cost of paying off a house as a percentage of the income of a base trade equivalent skilled worker has risen from 53% in 2001 to 87.4%. In Melbourne, in the four years 2000 to 2004, house prices doubled. This meant that wages had to double to maintain status quo on the ratio between house prices and wages constant. Of course this didn’t happen. (www.en//wikepedia.org/wiki/Australian_propertybubble )

Prices for households of gas and electricity have leapt ahead of household incomes. In the period 2007 to 2012, the percentage increases in costs of these items in all States of Australia increased by over 55%, with NSW topping the list at 80%. The Consumer Price Index for the same period increased by 15% while average weekly earnings increased by 25%. (www.theconversation.com?housing-stress-and-energy-poverty-a-deadly-mix-9484 )

Household energy costs also rose at a faster rate than energy costs for business for the same period. Those who profit from this are mainly big corporations who have benefitted from the privatisation of gas and electricity production over many years.

As we near a federal election, anger is growing at the major political parties who people see as more interested in themselves and their survival than improving the lives of the people.
 

In the short term many vent their anger at the ballot box which is reflected in the large swings in opinion polls against the federal government and large votes against the sitting state governments in WA, Victoria, NSW and Queensland in recent years.

Frustration in the workplace is growing too as workers can see that the industrial laws under the Fair Work Act declare effective industrial action “unprotected” and illegal. This frustration is bound to flow over to action regardless of the law as workers’ lives come more under the pump.