consumption
Victims of the cost of living: the elderly save on food, the young return to their parents
We are all hurt by the rise in the cost of living, but the young, most of whom earn minimum wages and the elderly whose pensions have eroded, suffer the most.
We compared dedicated shopping baskets tailored for students and the elderly - and found gaps of more than 38% between the various chains
Dr. Hezi Gur Mizrahi
23/06/2022
Thursday, 23 June 2022, 09:44 Updated: 10:26
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The cost of living is a general problem in Israel, but one of the main victims is the younger generation: more hedonistic, more extravagant and often also earns more from previous generations, it was a symbol of a new and better era, but now it is struggling to meet rents, restaurant prices and more.
The one who still suffers a severe blow is the stratum that is at the other end of the age range: the elderly.
Although this stratum is characterized by a relative minority of expenditures, at the same time the ability to purchase the pensioners' pension was severely impaired in view of the increase in prices, and the fact that most of Israel's population at retirement age lacks pension savings.
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Israel Population by Age (Photo: Daniel Malachovsky)
Protest leaders: middle class young people
Back to the young: they are more educated and less compromising.
Even those who are not very hurt by the cost of living are more opinionated than the parents' generation.
They believe less in the institutional mechanism and demand an in-depth explanation of the real need for price increases.
Not only about the cost of living they tend not to compromise, but also when it comes to their personal lives.
They for example will not work in any job just because one has to make a living and will strive to cultivate a career at almost any cost.
At the time of writing, it is still difficult to know how the current social protest will develop, but it is already clear that those who lead - and will probably continue to lead - are the new versions of Daphne Leaf and Itzik Shmuli, that is - not the weakest. Goa, but rather educated young people.
In other words: not those who have had to give up some of their food shopping (as we would expect) but rather those who have had to give up some of their dreams, especially those associated with a hedonistic lifestyle.
A large proportion of young people and the elderly can not go to the discount stores outside the city centers and pay the price for shopping at KALB (Photo: Daniel Malakhovsky)
The "average" families also suffer, but the young and the elderly are more affected
Israel has about 9.5 million inhabitants, of which about 300,000 students, 150,000 soldiers and another 1.2 million senior citizens who are about 20% of the total population.
Although not the entire population in Israel meets the definition of "average family", not only the young or retired are facing a difficult period, but also the families in the middle are facing a difficult period.
There are about 2.2 million families in Israel, the average family is 3.75 people per household with an income of about NIS 22,000 a month.
At first glance this amount may seem satisfactory, but when it is detailed not only for the most basic subsistence needs but also for normative expenses of the middle class, one finds that even the average family will have a hard time surviving the upcoming summer vacation and providing appropriate frameworks of fun activities for its children.
Note the following figure: Direct expenses on summer vacation consume about 10% of the annual income per average family in Israel.
The gaps in the discount chains outside the city (Photo: Daniel Malakhovsky)
Low income, high expenses
With all due respect to the plight of the family, we have chosen this time to focus on residents who do not consume for an entire family, but for a smaller framework, given income that is often significantly lower than average: senior citizens and 18-25 year olds, compulsory, national service, students.
When talking about consumer
problems among these populations, it is important to remember that this is a public that can not enjoy, for example, 5 kg specials, 2 packs of toilet paper and 4 packs of flour.
18-25 and aged 66- 85. The basket contains 50 common products and with constant demand among the target audience.
The general table (neighborhood supermarkets and discount) (Photo: Daniel Malakhovsky)
The author is the director of the Institute for Retail Research
. The survey is based on data from the Institute for Retail Research, the CBS and Sterncast.
Our shopping list (Photo: Daniel Malakhovsky)
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