Te pānga rerekē o te tāmi ahupūtea ki tō kāinga, tērā i tō kiritata, i tōna kiritata rānei

Wednesday, 31 August 2022

Tērā tētahi taputapu hōu nā Puna, me te kōingo kia whakaatu i te rerenga kētanga o te pānga tāmi ahupūtea kei te āhua o ō kōwhiringa pūtea. Kua pūrongotia e te kairīpoata raraunga Kate Newton.

A new tool from Stuff aims to show how your income and spending choices can limit or increase the effects of inflation. Data journalist Kate Newton reports.

Read this story in English here.

E pāngia ana tātou katoa e te tāmi ahupūtea, engari he rite tonu te whakamahi i ngā kupu rāpoto ki ngā pūrongo me ngā kōrero – OCR, CPI – ā, ko te hua ānō nei he huatau tūrehurehu, kua noho wehe i tērā e whaiwheako nei tātou, pō te ao, ao te pō.

Inflation affects all of us, but the way it is spoken about or reported on, often in a series of acronyms – OCR, CPI – can make it feel like an abstract concept, divorced from what we’re experiencing in our daily lives.

Ka hāngai ai te ‘pāpātanga tāmi ahupūtea’ ki ō ake utunga oranga? He pēhea te rahinga ake o ō utunga i ērā o te tau kua hipa, me kua whakataurite atu ki ō kiritata, ō hoamahi, me ō whānau?

Does the ‘inflation rate’ really reflect your own costs of living? And how much more are you paying than you were a year ago, compared to your neighbours, your colleagues, or your relatives?

Mā te whakamahi ngā raraunga tūturu mō te tāmi ahupūtea a Raraunga Aotearoa, kua waihanga a Puna i tētahi taputapu e tatau ai i tētahi pāpātanga tāmi ahupūtea matawhaiaro, kei te āhua o tō pūtea whiwhi, ērā e noho ana ki tō whare, me ētahi atu āhuatanga tauhokohoko i tō whare.

Using real inflation data from Stats NZ, Stuff has now created a tool that lets you calculate a personalised inflation rate, based on your income, who lives in your household, and a few key features of your household spending.

Kua mōhio tā mātou taputapu nei, he tirohanga whānui anake ngā pāpātanga tāmi ahupūtea. He rereke te pānga ki tērā tangata, ki tērā tangata, kei te āhua o tāu pūtea whiwhi, waihoki ko ēhea ngā momo utunga e tere piki ana te utu, ā, ko ēhea pea e noho tau ana, e heke ana rānei.

Our tool recognises that the headline inflation rates can only reflect the overall picture. Inflation affects different groups of people more or less, depending on how much you earn, which types of expenses are rapidly increasing in cost, and which might be stable or even dropping.

E oti i a koe te whakamātau i te taputapu o raro, me te pānui tonu kia whai whakamahukitanga mō te whakautu (me ētahi kōrero mō tana tika hoki).

You can try out the tool below, and carry on reading for an explanation of how it works (and some caveats about its accuracy).

Ko te mea nui pea mō tēnei wāhanga pikinga tāmi āhupūtea, he tuatahitanga te kino nei o te ngau ki ērā kāore anō kia 40 tau te kaumātuatanga.

What’s notable about the current period of rising inflation is that it’s the first time many people under the age of 40 have experienced increases this sharp.

Nō te 1990, kua kotahi anahe te wā kua hipa ake te tāmi ahupūtea ā-tau koni atu i te 5%, koia te tau i whakamanahia te Reserve Bank Act (me te whāinga kia kaua e tino hūkokikoki te tāmi ahupūtea).

Annual inflation has only gone past 5% once since 1990, when the Reserve Bank Act came into effect (with the aim of keeping inflation within a manageable window).

Ā mohoa nā, kāhore te tāmi ahupūtea teitei i noho tauhōu, ā, i tino kitea i ngā ngahurutau 1970, 1980 hoki, he ngau nō ngā utu ā-hinu (kua kitea rānei tēnei?). I tīemiemi hoki i ngā tau i muri i te pakanga.

Before then, high inflation was not uncommon and was particularly rampant during the 1970s and 1980s, partly because of a series of oil shocks (sound familiar?). It also see-sawed in the post-war years.

Ko tā te tūtohi o runga he whakaatu i te tohu utu kiritaki (consumer price index), te CPI rānei, koia tērā te inenga aunoa ka whakamahia i Aotearoa.

The chart above shows changes in the consumer price index, or CPI, which is the default inflation measure we use in New Zealand.

Ka whakamahi tā mātou taputapu i ngā raraunga kua kohia, kua whakaputaina hoki e Raraunga Aotearoa i āna tohu utu mō te utunga oranga ki ngā whare.

Our tool draws on data collected and published by Stats NZ in its household living-costs price indexes.

Hanga ōrite ana ngā tohu ki te CPI, engari e tatau ana i te tāmi ahupūtea ki ngā nōhanga 13 rerekē, mā te whakamahi ia wāhanga i te tahua ā-whare (pēnei i te utu penehini, ngā hua rākau me te hua whenua, te kākahu, me te rēti) me te whakatau i te taumahanga ā-pānga, kei te āhua i te rahinga pānga a te utunga ki te tahua ‘toharite’ katoa o ia momo nōhanga.

The indexes are similar to the CPI but calculate inflation for 13 different types of household, by taking each component of a household budget (such as fuel costs, fruit and vegetables, clothing, or rent) and giving them weightings, based on how much each expense counts towards the overall ‘average’ budget for each type of household.

Hei tauira, he nui ake te taumahatanga pānga tohu ki ngā whare kua hakahaka te whiwhi pūtea, ā, e iti iho ana te taumahatanga tohu a te kai kawe atu, me ngā wharekai, ki ngā whare kua nui ake te whiwhi pūtea.

For example, rent has a much higher index weighting for the lowest income households, while a higher index weighting is applied to restaurant and ready-to-eat food for the highest-income households.

E oti i a koe te kite ki te tūtohinga o raro, he rite tonu te nōhanga teitei ake a te tāmi ahupūtea i te toharite ki ērā whare pūtea whiwhi hakahaka, me te nōhanga hakahaka ki ērā whare pūtea whiwhi teitei.

You can see on the chart below that inflation is consistently higher than average for the lowest income households, and lower for high-income households.

Ko tētahi take e pēnā ana, i te nuinga o te wā, he rahi ake te wāhi pūtea ka whakapaungia e ngā whare pōhara ake, nā reira e whaipānga ake ana ngā pikinga utunga.

Part of the reason for this is that poorer households generally spend a greater proportion of their income, full-stop, so are more exposed to rising prices.

Ka tatau hoki a Raraunga Aotearoa i te pāpātanga ‘nōhanga katoa’ mā te whakakotahi i ngā hunga 13. Kua whakaaturia hoki tētahi pāpātanga ki te tūtohi o raro, ā, koia hoki te pāpātanga aunoa kua whakamahia e mātou ki tā mātou taputapu.

Stats NZ also calculates an ‘all households’ rate by combining the 13 groups. This rate is also shown on the chart below, and is the default rate we’ve used in our tool.

O roto anō i te pāpātanga whānui o te tāmi āhupūtea, tērā tonu ētahi rawa me ētahi ratonga e tere ake nei te piki, e rite tonu ake ana rānei i ētahi anō.

Within the overall inflation rate, some goods and services are increasing in price more quickly or consistently than others.

E tūpoupou ana te pīnakitanga tāmi ahupūtea o te rēti, te penehini, me ngā hua rākau, hua whenua hoki, engari e oti i a koe te kite ki te tūtohi o raro, he wā ōna kua pāngia hoki e te hekenga utu nō te tau 2008.

Rent, petrol and fruit and vegetables are all experiencing steep inflation at the moment, but you can see on the chart below that petrol prices have actually experienced deflation several times since 2008.

Ka pēhea ēnei āhuatanga katoa e whaiwāhi atu ki tā mātou taputapu?

How do all of these factors feed into our tool?

Kua tatau mātou i tō pāpātanga tāmi ahupūtea mā te whiriwhiri ko tēhea o ngā rōpū whiwhi pūtea e rima ko tō rōpū.

We’ve calculated your ‘personal’ inflation rate by, first of all, working out which of five income groups you fall into. We then re-weight the index for that income group, based on your answers to our questions.

Anei tētahi tauira (kua hanga noa). Tērā tētahi tangata noa me tō pūtea whiwhi, ka ōrite tana utu i ngā āporo, ngā ārani, ngā pea, me ngā panana. Ko te taumahatanga tohu o ia hua rākau he 0.25 (tētahi hauwhā). Engari tērā pea kāore koe e rata ki ngā panana, nā reira ka ōrite tāu whakapau tahua ki ngā hua rākau e toru kē. Ka ‘kore’ te taumahatanga a te panana ki tō tohu, ā, kua nui ake te pānga a ngā hua rākau anō i tō tahua whānui, arā, kua 0.33 (tētahi hautoru) te taumatahatanga tohu ki ia.

Here’s a simple (made-up) example. Let’s say an average person on your income spends their money equally on apples, oranges, pears and bananas. The index weight for each type of fruit would be 0.25 (a quarter). But let’s say you don’t like bananas, so you spend your budget equally on the three other fruits instead. The bananas get a ‘zero’ weight in your index, and the three other fruits now count more towards the overall budget, with an index weighting of 0.33 each (a third).

Engari waiho te momo hua rākau (kāore ēnā e whai i tētahi taumahatanga motuhake ki te tohu nei!), kua uia kētia ngā pātai mō tāu hautū waka, pupuri kāinga, mēnā rānei he kaimanga koe. I pēnā ai he kaha nō te pikinga tāmi ahupūtea o te penehini, te rēti, me ngā hua rākau, hua whenua hoki, i tēnei wā tonu. (E te kaimanga: kua hanga anuanu tā mātou inenga kia karo i te mīti i tō tohu). Mā ō uruparenga, e oti i a mātou te tatau i tētahi pāpātanga e nui ake ai, e iti iho ai rānei te taumahatanga ki ia o ēnei wāhanga utunga oranga ā-whare.

Instead of fruit types (which don’t actually get their own weightings in the index!) we’ve asked specific questions about whether you drive a car, own a home, or are vegetarian. That’s because petrol, rent, and fruit and vegetables are three areas that are contributing strongly to rising inflation at the moment. (Vegetarians: we’ve used a blunt measure of taking meat out of your index). Using your responses, we can calculate a rate that gives greater or lesser weight to these three components of household living costs.

Hei tauira, ko tā te tūtohi e whai ake nei he whakaatu i te rerenga kētanga o te whakaranea tāmi ahupūtea me te rēti, te korenga hoki ōna.

As an example, the next chart shows the difference in cumulative inflation with, and without, rent.

He arataki anake tā mātou taputapu. Ka āmiki ake tō pāpātanga tāmi ahupūtea matawhaiaro tūturu i tēnei. Mēnā e nui ake ana, e iti iho ana rānei tāu whakapau pūtea ki ngā utunga kē atu, tērā i tētahi atu me te pūtea whiwhi ōrite ki a koe, ka whaipānga tērā ki te tatauranga whānui.

Our tool is intended as a guide only. Your true personal inflation rate will be much more nuanced than this. If you spend more, or less, on other expenses than the average person on your income, that will feed into the overall calculation.

E kore hoki e oti i a mātou te whaiwāhi atu ki ngā momo whanonga āu e whakangāwari ake ai te pānga o ngā utunga. Ainī pea e tae ana ēnei ki te iti iho o tāu hautū waka, te panoni i ō tikanga hokohoko, te hoko i ngā rawa kua iti iho te utu, kia iti iho rānei te kai, kia tārewa (kia karo rānei) i ētahi utunga pēnei i te hoko hū hōu me ngā kākahu.

We also can’t take into account changes in behaviour you may have made to cushion the impact of rising costs. Those might include driving a car less often, changing your shopping habits to buy cheaper brands or less food, or delaying (or cutting) some expenses like buying new shoes and clothes.

Kua whaiwāhi atu kē mātou ki te tokomaha, me ngā momo tāngata e noho nei ki tō kāinga. Ka tīkina atu tō pūtea whiwhi ā-whare, te tokomaha tamariki, pakeke hoki ki tō whare, me te tatau whakamuri e whakatau ai i te taumata whiwhi pūtea noho ai tō whare mēnā he pakeke kotahi. Kua ōrite tā mātou rautaki ki tērā a Raraunga Aotearoa, ā, e oti i a koe te pānui i te roanga atu o ngā kōrero ki konei.

What we have taken into account is the number and type of people in your household. We take your household income, the number of children and adults in your house, and work backwards to calculate which income band your household would fall into if it was just a single adult. We’ve used the same method as Stats NZ and you can read more about it here.

E pēhea ana ngā piropiro o tō kāinga i te topanga a te utunga oranga? Tuari mai ō whakamaherehere ki ngā kaipānui Puna mā te tākupu ki raro iho.

How is your household managing the soaring cost of living? Share your tips with Stuff readers by commenting below.

He whakamāoritanga nā te Kaihautū Reo Māori ki Puna, nā Taurapa.

Translation by Stuff Kaihautū Reo Māori Taurapa.