January Data Shows More Australians Need Help
Data collected in January by Infoxchange has shown that cost of living is still greatly impacting Australians and seems to be only growing.
Data collected in January by Infoxchange has shown that cost of living is still greatly impacting Australians and seems to be only growing.
This data is collated from searches on Infoxchange’s Service Directory, which powers Ask Izzy. Ask Izzy allows Australians to search and locate local social service providers.
Some of the findings of the latest data include:
- Over 229,000 searches of the Service Directory in January 2023, the third-highest monthly number of searches on record.
- Over 1.5 million searches in the 2022/2023 financial year to date and over 2.5 million in the last 12 months.
- Over 123,000 Total Hardship Searches (Food, Financial Assistance, Emergency Relief) observed in January 2023, the second-highest number of Hardship searches on record. Total Hardship searches comprised over 53% of all searches undertaken in January.
- Almost 1.24 million Hardship Searches have been undertaken over the last 12 months.
In terms of Food Searches:
- Over 22,000 searches of the Service Directory via food relief organisations (SecondBite, OzHarvest, Foodbank Australia).
- Over 77,000 Food Searches were undertaken in January 2023 – the highest number of Food Searches on record. Food Searches comprised over 33% of all searches in January 2023.
- Almost 700,000 Food Searches have been undertaken in the last 12 months.
The data shows more people searching for social services, which demonstrates a need for help with food, clothing, financial assistance, legal support, alcohol and other drug services and more.
Infoxchange CEO David Spriggs says the second-highest searches of the Service Directory on record is very concerning.
“We’ve hit a milestone with over 2.5 million searches of our Service Directory to access help in the past 12 months; we’re thankful the Service Directory is available to help people in need, but it’s equally a disappointing milestone.
“It’s clear that cost of living pressures, especially mortgage and rental increases, are putting pressure on thousands of Australians who may have never used our Service Directory in the past.
“It’s always sad to see these numbers increase, but it is good for organisations to know where the demand is so we can invest more resources.”
Infoxchange constantly tracks Service Directory data and releases the trends monthly.
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