Essential workers would need to spend two-thirds of their income on rent to be able to afford to live alone, according to a new report, with aged care workers, early childhood educators, and hospitality workers among the hardest hit.
The findings come from a new report published by Everybody’s Home, which compares the award wages of essential workers across 15 categories with average rental prices in Australia.
Everybody’s Home suggests that essential workers in Australia who live alone are likely to be in “serious financial distress”, with little to no savings, while those who live with a partner are likely to be financially dependent on their partner’s income.
There are concerns that essential workers have been priced out of housing in their own communities.
Source: ‘Serious rental stress’: Essential workers are unable to rent by themselves