Survey on the impact on families of the economic downturn: preliminary report

To help understand the different ways in which families have been affected by, and responded to, the downturn and the changing economic environment, this survey was conducted between May and June 2009. Some 1650 families with at least one child aged under 18 years were asked about their household\u27s current financial situation, how it compared with six months ago and how they expect it to change over the next six months. It should be noted that the gross median income of households in the sample was $80,000-$100,000. This somewhat higher than the median household income for Australian families with children, that is $67,500-78,700, which suggests that respondents in the survey are financially better off than Australian families overall and has implications for interpreting results of the survey. Key findings were: •    almost 34% of survey respondents considered their current financial situation to be worse than it was six months ago. Approximately 55% considered it to be the same and almost 11% considered it to be better; •    in the case of sole parents, 42% considered their financial situation worse than six months ago; •    of households with an income less than $20,000 a year, 57% described their current financial situation as worse than 6 months ago, in contrast to 14% of households with incomes greater than $150,000; •    around 58% of respondents expected their financial situation to remain the same over the next six months, with 19% expecting it to improve and 17% expecting it to worsen; •    around 16% reported seeking financial counselling or help with money management for the first time in the last six months and a further 34% developed a budget for the first time; •    of households with an income less than $20,000 a year, 28% expected their financial situation to worsen over the next 6 months, in contrast to 14% of households with incomes greater than $150,000; •    around 46% described current household financial situation as \u27just getting along\u27 and 45% as \u27comfortable\u27. Relatively small proportions of families considered their financial situation as \u27prosperous\u27 (3%), \u27poor\u27 (5%) or \u27very poor\u27 (2%); •    the majority of respondents who considered their household\u27s current financial situation as \u27poor\u27 or \u27very poor\u27 reported that their financial situation had worsened in the last six months (71.4% and 100.0% respectively); and •    approximately 21% of all survey respondents reported being unable to pay their electricity, gas or telephone bills on time during the previous six months (and for 57% of these people this had never happened before the last six months)