Pulse Survey: Our Lives, Our Money - October to November 2022

Introduction

Each of us has been impacted by the cost of living, depending on the different financial supports we have in place or the challenges we face. How we feel and the actions we take in response to these challenges are infrequently measured. This is why the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has produced a snapshot of ‘Our Lives, Our Money’ in Ireland, based on responses gathered between October and November 2022. This report includes insights into concern about the cost of living, people’s financial situation, disposable income, actions to combat the cost of living, people’s perceived level of inflation and the changing costs of food.

‘Our Lives, Our Money’ is a Frontier Publication which means care must be taken when interpreting the results as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources. This release is based on the information collected from the fourth online Pulse Survey of the CSO ‘Take Part’ campaign. Pulse surveys, which take the ‘pulse’ of the country about an issue at a point in time, are usually short and frequent. They allow the public an opportunity to get involved in CSO surveys so that your story can become part of the story of Ireland. These types of survey ensure the CSO can provide relevant, timely and insightful data for the public.

This online survey was carried out between Thursday 27 October and Sunday 13 November 2022 and was open to anyone aged 18 and over living in the Republic of Ireland. The online electronic questionnaire was available on our website CSO.ie, and on all CSO social media platforms. There were 11,316 responses.

Please note the results in this report reflect only the responses of those who completed the Pulse survey questionnaire. While results are benchmarked to Irish population totals, the findings cannot be generalised to the entire Irish population, as the people who answered the questionnaire were not chosen at random from the population. Even with this caveat however, we hope that this report provides a valuable insight into life in Ireland. See the Background Notes for further details on the survey methodology.

Concerns

This report shows that nearly all respondents are concerned about the cost of living (96%), with 56% reporting they are very concerned about their current financial situation. Younger adults aged 18-29 were most likely to be very concerned (72%) compared with those aged 70 and above who were the least likely to be very concerned (44%).

Respondents were asked to report their three biggest financial worries at this time. These were:Utilities (72%), having no savings/pension (31%), and healthcare (30%). Renters selected "Saving for a mortgage deposit" as one of their three biggest money worries (38%). Respondents with children in their household selected "Meeting mortgage repayments/paying rent" more (32%) than those without (20%). The older population said they were worried about healthcare with nearly half of 60-69 year olds (46%) and 45% of respondents aged 70 and above (45%) selecting "Healthcare". Younger adults were concerned they couldn't afford to start a family, with nearly three in ten (29%) of 18-29 year olds selected this option.

Financial Situation

Respondents were asked to describe their perceived change in financial situation in the last 12 months and the next 12 months. Around 63% of respondents believe their financial situation has worsened since last year, while a further 64% believe their situation will get worse over the next 12 months.

About two-thirds (35%) of people said they are just getting by financially while one in five (19%) said they are short money every month to cover their expenses. Males (40%) were more likely than females (31%) to select "I have money left over at the end of the month". Respondents from households with children (23%) said  "I'm short money to cover my expenses every month" more often than those without (16%).

We asked those who answered "I'm short money to cover my expenses every month" what actions they took to meet their expenses. Just over half (51%) dipped into their savings and more than two-fifths (44%) said they left some bills unpaid.

Around 80% of people said they have experienced a decrease in disposable income in the last 12 months. By disposable income we mean money left over after all essential expenses have been covered. Women were more likely to say they experienced a drop in disposable income (83%) compared with men (76%). Respondents aged 40-49 and 50-59 were the most likely age groups to say they experienced a decrease in disposable income, both at 83%.

Actions

Almost every respondent (94%) said they had made cutbacks, with 62% cutting back on utilities (electricity, heating, etc.), 51% buying less fuel, and 49% not buying as much food. Around 54% of households with children reported making cutbacks on food. Respondents aged 60-69 and those aged 70 and above were most likely to say they had cut back on fuel at 60% and 59% respectively. Young adults were most likely to say they had cut back on the use of public transport (24%). 

The biggest cutbacks to non-essential costs were socialising (72%) and takeaways (62%).  Just over half of respondents (53%) said they had reduced their trips to the cinema, theatre, or concerts. Around four in ten (41%) reduced their spend on media subscription on the likes of Spotify, Netflix, and newspapers, with nearly a quarter (24%) no longer spending as much on club subscriptions such as gyms and social clubs. About 70% of women and 46% of men had reduced their expenditure on clothes, hairdressing, and beauty, including 70% of women and 46% of men. Of respondents from households with children, 67% had cut back on takeaways.

Relating to their work, employed persons were asked if they any ways to counteract the increases in the cost of living. (See figure 2.10) Three in ten (30%) full-time employed men had asked for a pay rise compared with two in ten (20%) women. Just over two in five (43%) of part-time employed respondents said they went to work unwell to avoid losing out on wages.

In terms of future action, respondents reported considering switching their utility providers (72%), switching their insurance providers (60%), and switching grocery shop or swapping to own-brand grocery products (63%). (See figure 2.11) Nearly six in ten (57%) 18-29 year olds would consider emigrating in order to lower the cost of living. Of respondents living in a home owned by the household, 21% said they would consider changing the heating system and 26% said they would consider installing or upgrading the insulation in their home.

Inflation

In this section, we asked the respondents about their knowledge of the inflation rate and the price of food goods in Ireland right now. The inclusion of these questions was to better understand people’s level of awareness of the cost of living currently. The CSO publishes the rate of inflation and the October 2022 rate was 9.2%. The results of this section of the survey showed that respondents are conscious of price increases with 72% of people estimating the rate of inflation to be between 7% and 11%. The median estimate was 9%. Seven in ten (70%) respondents said they knew the CSO publishes the official measure of inflation in Ireland, the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

One area of particular concern for respondents was food costs. This survey asked people whether they had noticed an increase or decrease in their weekly shop. Nearly all respondents (97%) reported an increase, with the median increase in respondents’ weekly food shop at €30. Less than one in ten (7%) said they experienced less than a €10 increase in their weekly food shop. This figure includes those that said they experienced a decrease and those that said it stayed the same. For respondents with children in their household the median increase was €40 for their weekly food shop.

The survey asked respondents about their knowledge of food inflation, they were asked to estimate the increased price of a basket of goods between October 2021 and October 2022. The basket of goods included milk (2 litres of full fat), spaghetti (500g), potatoes (2.5kg bag), sirloin steak (1kg), and teabags (80 pack), and had and had a cost of €23.10 in October 2021. In October 2022, the national average price for this basket of goods cost €25.66. Nine in ten (90%) people estimated the basket to cost more than €23.10, showing the awareness of food inflation.