We have all been out and about and heard from friends and colleagues how hard things are under this Government or that Government, or we are still recovering from the GFC…
There are plenty of measures out there and Australia usually ranks highly on per capita income levels and on well being levels. Wellbeing is a hard one to measure as it takes into account happiness and other subjective factors.
The OECD Better Life Index shows we rank highly again in all areas!
- The average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita is USD 33 128 a year, more than the OECD average of 29 016 USD a year.
- The top 20% of the population earn more than five times as much as the bottom 20% indicating a considerable gap between the richest and poorest.
- Around 72% of people aged 15 to 64 in Australia have a paid job, yet 13% of employees work very long hours
- 77% of adults aged 25-64 have completed upper secondary education
- Life expectancy at birth in Australia is around 82 years which is higher than the OECD average of 80 years.
- 95% of people in Australia believe they know someone they can rely on in a time of need. Political participation is also high with a 93% participation rate in recent elections. Australians gave their life satisfaction a 7.3 grade, significantly higher than the OECD average of 6.5.
Australia has enjoyed over twenty years of continual growth! This is unprecedented in our history! Australia has not had a recession for 25 years (1991) and I know about that as I was just about to finish University and there were not many jobs to be had. In 1992 my University mates and I had to settle for jobs outside our studied accounting and finance areas; we were couriers, fisherman, garbage men and I was a cleaner while I did some extra subjects at University. All these mates from Uni have been very successful since in their studied areas.
I did not think it was that tough in 91, 92… Now Australians travel overseas more often, eat out much more, drive more luxurious cars, own more property, wear more expensive clothes and accessories. This is a general sense I have and there are other factors such as the $AUD strength, globalisation etc.
Australians in general are materially better off and we expect this wealth to continue growing! Will we work harder to get or will we work too much to get and be unhappy…