Cost of Living is Hitting Australians Harder Than You Think

I recently succeeded in a Senate motion to bring in the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to explain how their inflation statistics (CPI) is calculated.

Their answers show that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is not a measure of how much it costs everyday Australian to live. Instead, it serves more as an indicator of where prices in the economy are heading, a useful tool for the Reserve Bank and Treasury.

The ABS also provides a set of other indicators, known as Cost of Living Indexes, which give a clearer indication of how price increases affect different groups. The largest of these is aimed at wage and salary earners, which encompasses 16 million Australians. This indicator shows that inflation for this group is running at 6.2%, rather than the official inflation rate of 3.8%.

The cost of living for most Australians is much higher under Labor than what Prime Minister Albanese and the Treasury acknowledge. If it feels like you’re working harder and going backwards, it’s because you are.

https://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/cost-of-living-is-hitting-australians-harder-than-you-think/