Making ends meet getting harder with more price rises
new-zealand-labour-party
Tue Sep 13 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Making ends meet getting harder with more price rises
Tuesday, 13 September 2011, 2:26 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party
Annette
KING
Deputy Leader
13 September 2011 MEDIA STATEMENT
Making ends meet getting harder with more price rises
Low income families will again bear the brunt of another round of food prices with latest figures showing the cost of fresh fruit and vegetables has soared 13.2% in the last year, Labour’s deputy leader Annette King says.
“Compare that to the average wage rise of 1.9% over the same period and it doesn’t take a genius to work out that no one’s going to be better off.
“Otago University’s Department of Human Nutrition estimates that an Auckland family of mum, dad, and two teenagers is looking at a basic food budget of around $300 a week. The median wage is $529 a week.
“Unfortunately it’s those families on the lowest incomes who spend the highest proportion of their incomes of food and other necessities such as electricity and petrol,” Annette King said.
“And they’re not the ones benefiting from the fall in seasonal food prices. They aren’t the ones buying out-of-season tomatoes, which were the main influence on a slight monthly drop in vege prices.
“It’s the 5% increase in meat, poultry and fish across the12 months and the 6.2% rise in other grocery food that will be stretching their finances.
Ms King said food prices outstripping wages meant more and more families were struggling to make ends meet, a fact borne out by Federation of Family Budgeting Services chief executive Raewyn Fox who said today the number of people seeking budgeting advice this year had risen to 37,000, up from 31,000.
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“Food banks are also reporting increased demand, and not just from those on the lowest incomes but from those on higher ones as well.
“Labour has made taking pressure of the cost of living pressure off families a major feature of our campaign, with a commitment to lifting the minimum wage, taking the GST off fresh fruit and vegetables and making the first $5000 of income tax-free.
“For a two-income family on the minimum wage with three school age children that’s an extra $157 a week, enough perhaps for a treat of fresh tomatoes now and again,” Annette King said.
ENDS
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