Inflation continues

Where the Viennese are still saving

Many Viennese can only dream of this this summer. More and more are cutting back and booking a low-cost vacation at home - or staying at home.(Bild: pkazmierczak - stock.adobe.com)

Inflation has left its mark. A new AK study shows the restrictions households have to contend with.

This much is certain: the massive wave of inflation is having a serious impact on the lives of the Viennese. This is the result of a recent survey of 37 Viennese households conducted by BOKU on behalf of the AK. Almost two thirds of those surveyed have a low income, one third a medium income.

Worryingly, even an increase in income cannot compensate for the disproportionate rise in expenditure on rent, energy and food, according to around every second household surveyed. Extremely high inflation has made their income worth less. They are now cutting back, planning more carefully and being more frugal, according to the key findings of the consumer and crisis study. Incidentally, this also applies to vacations and leisure time.

Inflation exacerbates living situation
"Expenditure has simply become enormous, so I simply have nothing left over," says one of the respondents. The various crises such as Covid, the war in Ukraine and global warming have also left their mark.

Inflation is affecting people. Many still have to plan their income carefully and be frugal.

Gabriele Zgubic, Leiterin der Abteilung Konsumentenpolitik, AK Wien

Bild: AK Wien

"The various crises are having an emotional impact on those surveyed and, above all, they want more normality and financial stability in the future," concludes BOKU study author Oliver Meixner. However, the inflation crisis in particular is forcing people to change their consumption and eating habits:

• More than half of those surveyed are now planning their consumption much better and more precisely, and in some cases they are foregoing planned purchases altogether.

• Price awareness when shopping in the supermarket has increased for almost all respondents. Purchases are being planned more and cheap products are increasingly being used.

• Vacations are increasingly being planned inexpensively in Austria, including with family and friends. Leisure activities are being reduced or switched to cheaper alternatives.

As a conclusion, the AK is once again calling on the federal government to repair the rent brake, as well as a price transparency database against food inflation.