Living standards fall as inflation bites into household income       

The CSO said households saved 19% of their income in the third quarter last year

The Central Statistics Office said total earnings rose in the quarter, reflecting an increase in employment, but 'inflation outpaced this growth, leaving real income lower'. Picture: Larry Cummins

Living standards fell again in the third quarter last year as inflation ate into household income, official figures confirm. 

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said total earnings across the economy rose in the quarter, reflecting an increase in employment, but that "inflation outpaced this growth, leaving real income lower". 

"With higher inflation in recent quarters, real disposable income has been declining. This has been a slow reduction in living standards, as wages continued to rise but did not keep pace with prices," CSO statistician Peter Culhane said in a commentary.

Household spending continued to grow in part due to inflation but also due to households consuming more goods and services."  

Consumer price inflation which was running at one stage at over 9% in the third quarter has since eased. The figures also showed a small decline in the household saving rate, which had been running at an elevated level during the pandemic crisis. 

The CSO said households saved 19% of their income in the third quarter, only slightly down from 20% in the previous quarter, but up sharply from the 10% of income households were saving before the Covid crisis. 

The figures also show that multinationals continued to transfer more intellectual property assets into Ireland.