Tag: costofliving

Two-thirds of Irish adults attempt to offset cost-of-living crisis using online tools

Pure Telecom, the Irish-owned high-speed broadband company, today announces the results of a survey, which found that adults in Ireland are turning to online resources en masse as they battle the impact of soaring prices on their personal finances. The research found that 66% of adults in Ireland are resorting to tools such as internet banking, budgeting apps and cashback apps to combat the rising cost of living.

The online research, conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Pure Telecom, surveyed 1,002 people as part of a nationally representative study and found that 94% of adults in Ireland are being negatively impacted by the cost-of-living crisis. As a result, 50% of respondents report that they have cancelled streaming or TV subscriptions in the last 12 months to reduce their outgoings.

The survey found that a quarter of adults in Ireland are now using cashback apps – which enable consumers to get discount codes and vouchers, or cash back, on select purchases – in an effort to offset the rising cost of living.

A similar proportion (24%) are using apps and websites that help them to find the best local deals for items on their shopping list, while 16% are using personal finance apps that can monitor their spending. Four-in-10, meanwhile, credit internet banking for helping them to keep track of their spending during the cost-of-living crisis.

Pure Telecom’s research found that the internet is also helping adults in Ireland to make more informed buying decisions. Some 61% of respondents said that they are spending more time researching prices online before making a final purchase.

The survey also found that remote working is helping workers to combat rising prices. Of those who are working remotely or on a hybrid basis, 44% say working from home helps them to reduce their cost of living. From this cohort, 69% say it is reducing their spend on fuel, 53% report that they are saving money on food and 42% are saving on public transport. A quarter of those working remotely or on a hybrid basis believe that remote working is increasing their cost of living.

Paul Connell, CEO, Pure Telecom, said: “With inflation and the ever-rising cost of living, we found that almost everyone is feeling the financial pinch and most are looking for ways to tighten the purse strings. Our survey found that adults in Ireland are getting creative and many are using multiple online resources to ensure they don’t pay a cent more than they need to.

 “It is natural that in this current climate, people are looking at their monthly outgoings and cutting back where they can, so it is interesting to see that half of all adults have cancelled at least one streaming or TV subscription in the past year. At Pure Telecom, we are always conscious of customer needs for great quality at an affordable price, which is why we are so proud of our extremely competitively priced Pure TV offering and broadband packages. We want to help people to reduce their cost of living without cutting back on the things they enjoy most.”

Unemployment rate rises as concerns turn to wage pressures and cost of living

The main unemployment rate was 5.5% in March on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 5.2%  in February but down from a level of  7.7% twelve months 7.7% ago. The seasonally adjusted number of people unemployed rose 11,200 in the month but fell 42,100 in the past 12 months.

Pawel Adrjan, economist at global job site Indeed, comments on the latest CSO data:

“Unemployment rose last month, reflecting what we expect to be another temporary pause in the long term downward trend we saw for much of last year. Forecasts over the longer term are for a continued decline, with an unemployment rate of 5% by 2024 forecast by the CBI in its latest quarterly bulletin1.”

Pawel Adrjan

Despite Covid-19 still being with us, from a labour market perspective we have moved into a post-pandemic phase, with the ending by the Government yesterday of any further Pandemic Unemployment Payments (PUP). Remaining recipients, if eligible, will now transition to jobseekers’ payments. They will do so in a jobs environment that looks broadly positive. Indeed’s data continues to show employers very actively hiring, with the level of Irish job postings on Indeed up 60% at 1 April 2022, compared to 1 February 2020 (Fig 1). However, the current geopolitical situation has created uncertainty, as noted in the CBI’s recent forecast  which downgraded their economic growth and employment expectations. 

Of particular concern is the increasing rate of inflation, driven by higher energy costs. With the cost-of-living rising employers are bracing themselves for growing wage demands. In 2021 average earnings growth was 4.8% and in a recent bulletin the ESRI warned that the increased growth in job vacancies is putting upward pressure on wages in 2022.2 It remains to be seen to what extent workers will look to be compensated for the rising cost of living.”

 

1 Central Bank, Quarterly Bulletin, April: https://www.centralbank.ie/docs/default-source/publications/quarterly-bulletins/qb-archive/2022/quarterly-bulletin-q2-2022.pdf

2 Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Economic consequences of invasion of Ukraine sees consumer prices increase, continuing supply chain disruption: https://www.esri.ie/news/economic-consequences-of-invasion-of-ukraine-sees-consumer-prices-increase-continuing-supply