SIX out of ten Islanders are struggling to meet all of their living costs, according to a survey released today.
And nearly one in ten often has to go without essentials such as food or heating.
The data was published by research and consultancy company Island Global Research, which asked questions online about the cost of living in Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar.
The survey follows figures released last week by Statistics Jersey showing that Islanders’ real-term earnings have fallen by 6% over the past decade, with most households also worse off than they were before the pandemic owing to inflation (currently at 12.7%) and high housing costs.
Jersey Consumer Council chair Carl Walker said the latest report provided ‘the statistics behind the struggle’.
The survey was completed by 2,761 people between 17 and 30 March, including 857 residents from Jersey.
Of the local respondents, 62% reported that they had found it difficult to meet all of their living costs in the last 12 months.
And in signs that middle Jersey is feeling the squeeze, Island Global Research managing director Lindsay Jefferies said that, when breaking the statistics down by income group, it had risen from 62% to 66% for those making £40,000 to £80,000 a year and from 45% to 55% for those making over £80,000.
‘When doing sub-group analysis on each Island there is more uncertainty around the statistics because of the smaller sample size, so it is hard to be definitive but there is evidence of an upward trend,’ she explained.
Mr Walker said: ‘While the [government’s] mini-budget and other initiatives have helped many Islanders through the first half of the year, the Consumer Council’s position has always been that there are still Islanders who earn slightly too much to qualify for help, but not enough to make ends meet – and they are really struggling.
‘It seems this data indicates more of those Islanders are being dragged onto the breadline.
‘And with housing costs making up such a huge proportion of Islanders’ spend, it is not surprising that many of those impacted are considering their long-term future in Jersey.’
