Australian womens’ satisfaction with standard of living has declined

A declining proportion of Australians are satisfied with their standard of living, a new study into the financial circumstances of Australians conducted by Ipsos has found. That decline has been felt disproportionately among Australian women, who are now reporting lower satisfaction and higher dissatisfaction compared to July 2020.

Satisfaction of their standard of living fell by 8% among women to 66%, while among men it remained the same at 67%. Two thirds of Australians surveyed (66%), however, remain satisfied with their standard of living.

Despite these declines, many more Australians see positivity in the next 12 months, with the proportion of those who believe their financial circumstances will get better far outweighing those who feel it will get worse. Again, there is a large discrepancy between the genders, with positivity among men much higher than women.

The results are from an Ipsos survey of 1,000 Australians between 3^rd – 7^th March 2021. The latest results were compared to the previous survey conducted between 15th – 19th July 2020, after much of the country went into COVID lockdowns, and a raft of Government stimulus packages to lessen the economic impact of the lockdown were introduced.

The key findings of this Ipsos study include: 

• While Australians’ satisfaction with their standard of living remained strong in March 2021, (66% satisfied and 14% dissatisfied), with a net satisfaction rate of 52%, it is significantly lower than in July 2020, when the net satisfaction rate was 58%.
• Satisfaction remains unchanged among men (67%), while dissatisfaction is down 2% (from 13% to 11%), resulting in a small (2%) net positive shift in net satisfaction.
• Women, on the other hand, have seen an 8% decline in satisfaction (from 74% to 66%), while dissatisfaction has increased from 12% to 17%, resulting in a 14% decline in their net satisfaction rating (from 62% to 48%).     
• Despite still holding the highest satisfaction levels, satisfaction fell the most among those aged 75+ (77% down from 87%).
• The next biggest decline was among those aged 57-74 years (76% down from 73%), with smaller declines among all other age groups.

Despite these declines in Australians’ satisfaction with their standard of living, there was a significant increase in the proportion of Australians who expect their personal financial circumstances to get better over the next year.

• Two thirds of Australians (34%) expect their personal financial circumstances to get better over the next year, up from 23% in July last year.
• The proportion of men who expect their personal financial circumstances to get better over the next 12 months is up 15% (41%, up from 25%).
• While there was a positive gain compared to July 2020 in the proportion of women who expected to see their personal financial circumstances get better over the next year, (28%, up from 20%), there is now a 13 percentage point difference between men (41%) and women (28%).
• When looking across age groups, Generation Z and the Millennials (49%) are most likely to believe their personal financial circumstances will get better over the next 12 months, up from 38% in July last year.
• While the total proportion of people expecting to see improvements in their personal financial circumstances declines with age, there were increases are noted in all age groups compared to July last year, except those aged 75+ (7% down from 10%).

Despite a decrease in satisfaction, there was a small directional decrease in the proportion of people who are reporting being consistently late in meeting financial obligations.

• On average, across all financial commitments, 17% of Australians surveyed in March claimed they are consistently late making payments, down from 20% in July.
• The biggest decline in being late is coming from school / kindergarten / child-care fees, (14%, down from 34%). The fact that the Federal Government introduced free childcare from 6^th April to 12^th July was likely inflating results in July 2020, as some people who reported as being late meeting financial commitment, were not actually making payments at all.
• There was similar trend on personal loans, with 15% of Australian now reporting being late, down from 30% in July 2020, with late payments on mortgage and rent also declining (14%, down from 20%). Again, the debt moratoriums last year meant some were not paying their loans and likely reported them as late payments. Now these moratoriums have been removed, more people are meeting their due dates for payments. 

Ipsos Public Affairs Director, Ben Brown, said: “The big shift in net satisfaction with standards of living between the genders demonstrates how uneven the impacts of the COVID induced recession are being felt across Australia. This matched with data from other studies we have conducted, such as a 28 country study in late November and early December 2020, which found that Australian women were significantly more likely to report increased anxiety around job security - 55% versus 47% for Australian men, stress due to changes in work routines and organisations - 74% versus 47%, and difficulty finding a work-life balance - 50% versus 40%. A study from the Grattan Institute also showed key impacts on women.

“While the positive shift in perceptions for the next 12 months does somewhat justify the winding back of support, the big disparity opening up on this measure between the genders suggest these uneven impacts may continue to widen, at least over the short term.”

Click here to access previous Financial Commitment reports