Aussie millennials battling in vain to meet their financial commitments

A recent study has found that many millennial professionals working in Australia are failing to earn enough to maintain their monthly financial commitments. A survey, administered by YouGov Galaxy on behalf of Employment Hero, quizzed more than 1,000 part-time and full-time working Australians on their work, spanning wages, work-life balance and non-financial workplace benefits. More than half (52%) said they struggled to meet their ongoing financial commitments, including utility bills and credit card debts. Consequently, over 2.5 million millennial professionals ‘Down Under’ have successfully applied for a payday loan, regardless of whether they have a bad credit history based on unpaid debts and defaults. These short-term lending arrangements appear to be increasingly popular among millennials that need an extra top-up to get them through until the end of the month. More than a third of millennials surveyed said they had taken out a payday loan, compared with only one-in-ten ‘Baby Boomers’. The report’s findings are a major concern to Ben Thompson, founder and CEO of Employment Hero, who also revealed that Australia’s wage price index had fallen continually during the last ten years, “impacting directly on employees’ standards of living” as a result. The declining wage price index flies in the face of accelerations in the Australian economy, with 3.4% growth in the last year alone. However, despite the financial constraints that many millennials face on a daily basis, a growing number of professionals are preferring to obtain non-financial benefits from their employers. It appears that millennial workers are striving for an optimal work-life balance…. Read More