Low-income households made ‘high-risk’ changes to meet cost-of-living pressures, study finds

Conor Pope - The Irish Times - 01/04
With difficulty accessing welfare benefits, they cut spending on essentials such as food while getting into debt to survive

Enduring cost-of-living pressures have forced most low-income households to make high-risk decisions to change how they live, with many going into arrears on loans, borrowing more or depleting savings, research shows.

The Economic and Social Research Institute’s (ESRI) behavioural research unit found that the decisions people felt they had to take to make ends meet had long-term effects on their lives, including on mental wellbeing.

Young children were more likely to suffer higher stress levels as a result of these actions, researchers found.

The ESRI study’s findings also revealed that a significant percentage of people on low incomes were unable to navigate ...
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