Changes in the living costs of pensioner and beneficiary households (PBLCI) rose 1.6 per cent in the September quarter of this year, to give yearly inflation of 2 per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said this week.
The main contributor to the rise was housing (up 4.7 per cent), mainly due to rises in price of electricity and gas and other household fuels.
Living costs for pensioners jumped an even greater amount, up 1.9 per cent, greater even than the rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which was up 1.4 per cent in the September quarter, with housing costs rising 6.2 per cent, mainly due to rises in electricity, gas and other household fuels charges, the ABS said.
Compared to the general population, pensioners spend a relatively higher proportion of their money on housing costs, which includes electricity, and also on food, explaining the sharper jump in their living costs.
Also in the September quarter 2012, the living costs of self-funded retiree households rose 1.7 per cent, the ABS said.
The main contributor to the rise was housing (up 6.2 per cent), mainly due to rises in electricity, property rates and charges and gas and other household fuels. Food and non-alcoholic beverages (up 2.1 per cent), recreation and culture (up 1.3 per cent) and health (up 2.7 per cent) also contributed to the rise.
Living costs for self-funded retiree households recorded a larger rise than the CPI as self-funded retiree households spend a relatively greater amount on recreation and culture and health, which recorded rises in the third quarter, the ABS said.
The sharp jump in third-quarter inflation for pensioners and self-funded retirees reverses the benign second-quarter numbers, which revealed that pensioner living costs rose at their slowest rate in 12 years.
The PBLCI represents the conceptually preferred measure for assessing the impact of changes in prices on the disposable incomes of households whose income is derived principally from government pensions or benefits. The PBLCI is used by the government to index base pension rates.
