More than a third of West Australians believe their living standards have gone backwards in the last three years, reflecting ongoing concerns about the cost of living.
CCIWA’s Consumer Confidence report for the September quarter surveyed more than 900 WA households and asked respondents whether their living standards have improved, stayed the same, or gone backwards since 2021.
The vast majority (81%) said their living standards have not improved. 45% said they had remained the same while 36% said they had gone backwards. One in five (19%) reported they had seen an improvement.
CCIWA Chief Economist, Aaron Morey, said the data provides an important insight into the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.
“High inflation, restrictive interest rates and skyrocketing housing costs have clearly dented confidence in WA households over the past few years,” he said.
“Concerningly, we can see that households with lower incomes are more likely to report that their living standards have not improved.
“Almost nine in 10 (88%) households with incomes under $75,000 said their living standards had gone backwards or stayed the same.
“This is compared with just three in four (75%) of people in higher income brackets.”
The results also show a generational divide when it comes to improved living standards, with younger people more likely to report they have improved.
For people aged between 18 and 39 years old, 29% indicated their living standards have improved over the past three years, compared with just 14% of those aged 40-64 and 10% for those aged over 65.
Overall, consumer confidence remains flat in WA, with just over half (51%) of households expecting economic conditions to remain unchanged in the next three months.
Three in 10 (30%) expect conditions to weaken, while the remaining one in five (19%) think conditions will improve.
“When we asked households what was weighing down their optimism about the economy, more than seven in 10 (72%) said the high cost of living was dampening their outlook,” Mr Morey said.
“The next most significant factor was global economic news, followed by interest rates which have not ratcheted down this year as hoped.
“The survey shows an eight-percentage point decline in the number of respondents identifying interest rates as weighing on their outlook, indicating households may be adjusting to higher rates.”
The key issues driving optimism among households were their continued strong job prospects and state government policies, including cost-of-living measures to reduce power bills.
