Average living costs for working Australians rose by just 0.1 per cent in the December quarter, but that overall number hides some bigger differences. According to the latest Analytical Living Cost Index (ALCI) from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the biggest rise was in communications costs, while the biggest fall was in food.
Picture by Andy Bullock
This is the percentage price change in categories the ABS tracks to calculate the ALCI for employee households. (It also calculates data for government welfare recipients, pensioners and retirees, but we’ve stuck with the main figures here.)
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[left]
Food and non–alcoholic beverages
Health
Clothing and footwear
Transport
Education
Furnishings, household equipment and services
Housing
Insurance and financial services
Recreation and culture
Alcohol and tobacco
Communication
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[right]
-1.4%
-1.1%
-0.7%
0%
0%
0.1%
0.5%
0.5%
0.7%
0.9%
1%
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The ABS attributes the rise overall to “increases in domestic holiday travel and accommodation, rents and interest charges” (not all of which are broken out in the categories above). How do those changes match with your experience?
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