The Cost-of-Living Crisis in Australia

Introduction

• The cost-of-living crisis has become a major concern in Australia.
• CPI (Consumer Price Index) measures price changes in essential goods/services.
• This story explores key inflation trends across categories since 2018.

Objective

• Visualise the rise in cost-of-living pressures over time.
• Compare inflation patterns across categories like food, housing, transport, and electricity.
• Highlight the most recent snapshot (Mar 2024) for impact.

Data Source

• Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
• Dataset: Time Series Spreadsheet 640107 – CPI, All groups, weighted average of eight capital cities.
• Time Period: Jan 2018 to Mar 2024

Load and Clean CPI Data

library(readxl)
library(tidyverse)

cpi_raw <- read_excel("640107.xlsx", sheet = "Data1", skip = 9)
cpi_index <- read_excel("640107.xlsx", sheet = "Index", skip = 9)

selected_series <- c("A2325851W", "A2325941A", "A2326031J", "A2328101R", "A2325806K")
series_labels <- c(
  A2325851W = "Food",
  A2325941A = "Housing",
  A2326031J = "Transport",
  A2328101R = "Electricity",
  A2325806K = "All Groups CPI"
)

cpi_data <- cpi_raw %>%
  select(Date = 1, all_of(selected_series)) %>%
  filter(Date >= as.Date("2018-01-01"))

cpi_long <- cpi_data %>%
  pivot_longer(-Date, names_to = "SeriesID", values_to = "Index") %>%
  mutate(Category = series_labels[SeriesID])

CPI Trends by Category (2018–2024)

ggplot(cpi_long, aes(x = Date, y = Index, color = Category)) +
  geom_line(size = 1.2) +
  labs(title = "CPI Trends by Category (2018–2024)",
       x = "Date", y = "Index Value (Base = 100)",
       color = "Category") +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 14)

CPI Trends by Category (2018–2024)

CPI Snapshot: Mar 2024

latest_cpi <- cpi_long %>%
  filter(Date == max(Date))

ggplot(latest_cpi, aes(x = reorder(Category, -Index), y = Index, fill = Category)) +
  geom_col(show.legend = FALSE) +
  labs(title = "CPI by Category – Mar 2024",
       x = "Category", y = "Index Value") +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 14)

CPI Snapshot: Mar 2024

Key Insights

• Electricity prices rose steeply during 2022–2023.
• Food and transport costs have remained consistently high post-COVID.
• Housing CPI slowed slightly, but remains elevated.

Conclusion

• Australian households are facing continued pressure from rising prices.
• Policymakers must address category-specific inflation, especially electricity and food.
• Ongoing CPI tracking is crucial to monitor relief effectiveness.

References

• Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2024). Consumer Price Index, Australia. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation
• R Core Team. (2024). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. https://www.r-project.org/