... as welfare payments and minimum wages rise.
PPP is purchasing. GDP at purchasing power parity has flatlined its growth in the last few years.
There is a rise in the rate of transfer of wealth occurring in Australia, and the growth of welfare payments has become institutionalized and resistant to cessation or downward revision.
Costs are rising faster than after-tax income for many Australians.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-18/living-costs-in-australian-cities-rise-fa... Quote:Living costs in many Australian cities rising faster than rest of world
Updated 18 Jan 2018, 1:09pm
Many Australian capital cities, including Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart, have become more expensive over the past year compared to the rest of the world.
Most expensive cities:
Hamilton, Bermuda
Zurich, Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland
Basel, Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland
Lausanne, Switzerland
Reykjavik, Iceland
Stavanger, Norway
Lugano, Switzerland
Oslo, Norway
Australia's most expensive city — Sydney — has risen to number 32 in this year's Cost of Living Index, compiled by price aggregation website Numbeo.com. It is up from 41 last year.
Melbourne rose to 64, up from 77, while Adelaide, Cairns, Hobart and Canberra also moved up the list to 58, 69, 82 and 103 respectively.
Only Perth (56), Darwin (68) and Brisbane (93) have become more affordable.
The UNSW Business School's Professor Kristy Muir, chief of the Centre for Social Impact, said although we have had a "couple of decades of the strongest growth in GDP" and are seeing low inflation rates around the country, "day to day this doesn't reflect individuals' household living expenses".