One in four skipping meals due to cost of living crisis

One in four Australians are skipping meals due to cost of living increases, and more than half have cut back on essential items, according to new union polling.

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

One in four Australians are skipping meals due to cost of living increases, and more than half have cut back on essential items, according to new union polling highlighted to push the need for Labor’s industrial relations changes.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions said the poll of 3000 people also found that 21 per cent had sold assets to keep up with rising costs and 14 per cent had been forced to move to, or look for, more affordable housing.

The ACTU said the government’s changes, which were being debated in the Senate on Wednesday, were a “great step” towards giving workers the tools they need to bargain for wage growth which kept up with the cost of living.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said a decade without wage growth followed by deep real wage cuts means “millions of Australians are cutting back, skipping meals and being forced out of their homes”.

“Employers publicly arguing against wage growth are directly undermining the Australian economy,” she said.

The government will pursue a second round of measures in 2023 including changes to labour hire and casual employment, regulation of the gig economy and provisions to address underpayment of wages.

“The bill before the parliament this week is a great step forward which will give working people better access to bargaining, but huge loopholes in our workplace laws remain which allow employers to slash wages and conditions. These have to end,” Ms McManus said.

“A quarter of Australians cannot afford enough food for three meals a day. This is a crisis which requires a systemic response. We need to fix our broken workplace laws and rethink how our financial institutions, like the RBA, combat inflation and protect the interests of working people.”

Data from the Australia Institute showed a majority of Australians polled said their wages were not keeping up with cost of living hikes, with nine in 10 believing it was the government‘s responsibility to get wages moving.

The survey of more than 1000 people found two in three Australians had not seen their wages grow at all, or that their wages had grown slower than cost of living rises.

More than 90 per cent of Labor and Greens voters agreed with the statement it was the government’s responsibility to ensure real wages grew to keep up with cost of living, compared to just over 80 per cent of Coalition voters.

Overall, two in three of the respondents believed changing laws to make it easier for workers to bargain collectively would be an effective way to get wages moving faster.

Greg Jericho, labour market and fiscal policy director at the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, said the research showed most Australians felt like they were “falling behind” on wage growth and there was appetite for industrial relations reform.

“Working Australians know that the current industrial relations system needs a stronger safety net and a greater ability for workers to bargain for better wages,” he said.

When asked about the most effective way to get wages moving, three in four respondents selected “strengthening government regulation on wage setting” from the four options provided. Two in three selected “changing laws to make it easier for workers to bargain collectively”, while three in five Australians said “labour market forces” would be effective for getting wages to increase faster.