New figures reveal retirees among the poorest in developed world

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A report card on poverty has revealed that Australia's retirees are the 4th poorest in the developed world, and our unemployed people are the poorest.

According to The Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, 50% of single Australian retirees live in poverty - defined as less than 50% of average earnings. This figure has risen by 4.8 percent over the last ten years. Other figures have also shown that an alarming 27 percent of all retirees living in Australia are below the poverty line.

One way to avoid becoming a victim of poverty is to open a high interest savings account and deposit whatever money you can afford. This will provide people in need with an additional source of finance, keeping them above the poverty line.

Jenny Macklin, Families and Community Services Minister, said the findings from the report were "shameful" and iterates the past 12 years of neglect from the former Howard government.

“This is a searing indictment of the Opposition’s record in government on older Australian,” she said.

National Seniors chief Michael O'Neill said the report only reiterate what Australian pensioners already knew.

“The single pension is inadequate and needs to be increased to two thirds the rate of the couple pension,” he said.

But the report also shows our unemployed are suffering even more than our pensioners, rated as the poorest in any developed nation.

Sydney's Welfare Rights Centre policy officer Gerard Thomas said that this was a very serious message, and that unemployment is expected to continue rising due to the global economic slowdown.

“The Government has recognised that pensioners are doing it tough but they appear to have blinkers on when it comes to understanding the real situation that unemployed people find themselves in,” he said.

The Rudd Government has introduced a $500 allowance this year in an attempt to boost pension incomes, and will be raising the telephone allowance to $132 a year.

Last October, the Government announced it would be providing pensioners with a one off lump sum Christmas bonus of $1,400 for single pensioners and $2,100 for couples, in an attempt to kick-start consumer spending.

An inquiry is also under way into increasing the rate of the single pension (currently set at $281 a week).

The unemployed are provided with $50 a week less and they were not included in the Government’s recent economic rescue package.

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