Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 28—Prices 951
28.6 CONSUMER PRICE INDEX, International Comparisons(a)(b)
1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00
INDEX NO.
Australia 113.5 116.5 121.1 123.9 125.4 126.9 129.4
New Zealand(c) 109.4 110.5 111.9 113.7 114.9 116.9 118.7
Hong Kong (SAR of China) 139.5 150.7 159.5 166.8 173.0 171.2 165.8
Indonesia 137.8 150.3 163.7 174.1 232.7 368.3 367.1
Japan 107.9 107.8 107.3 108.2 112.4 112.4 111.6
Republic of Korea 130.4 138.0 144.4 151.3 162.1 169.0 172.1
Singapore 110.9 114.5 116.0 118.1 119.4 118.5 120.7
Taiwan 114.2 119.1 122.5 125.7 127.2 128.2 129.3
Canada 112.0 113.4 116.0 118.8 120.6 122.0 125.0
United States of America 114.8 118.0 120.9 124.3 125.8 127.2 130.9
Germany 113.7 115.8 117.0 118.2 120.3 120.7 121.8
United Kingdom 122.0 124.8 128.3 131.5 134.6 137.2 139.3
CHANGE SINCE PREVIOUS YEAR (%)
Australia 2.3 2.6 3.9 2.3 1.2 1.2 2.0
New Zealand(c) 0.6 1.0 1.3 1.6 1.1 1.7 1.5
Hong Kong (SAR of China) 7.1 8.0 5.8 4.6 3.7 –1.0 –3.2
Indonesia 6.8 9.1 8.9 6.4 33.7 58.3 –0.3
Japan 1.0 –0.1 –0.5 0.8 3.9 0.0 –0.7
Republic of Korea 5.6 5.8 4.6 4.8 7.1 4.3 1.8
Singapore 2.6 3.2 1.3 1.8 1.2 –0.8 1.9
Taiwan 2.5 4.3 2.9 2.6 1.2 0.8 0.9
Canada 1.1 1.3 2.3 2.4 1.5 1.2 2.5
United States of America 2.4 2.8 2.5 2.8 1.2 1.1 2.9
Germany 2.8 1.8 1.0 1.0 1.8 0.3 0.9
United Kingdom 2.9 2.3 2.8 2.5 2.4 1.9 1.5
(a) Reference base year 1989–90 = 100.0. (b) All groups excluding housing. (c) From March quarter 1994, the statistics for New
Zealand refer to ‘All groups excluding housing and credit services’.
Source: Consumer Price Index, Australia (6401.0).
Prices in Australia at the beginning and end of the 20th century
This article takes a brief look at how the relative
prices of many of today’s common items have
changed since Federation. To assist in making
comparisons, 1901 prices have been mulitiplied
by a factor of 50 to take account of general
inflation. This factor is derived from table 28.5,
which shows that the purchasing power of one
pound (or $2.00) in 1901 is equivalent to about
$100 in 2001. The 1901 prices in this article
(which were originally measured in pounds,
shillings and pence) have been converted to
decimal amounts. Likewise, imperial
measurements of quantity have been converted
to their metric equivalents.
In 1901, the average weekly wage for an adult
male was about $4.35 for a working week of
almost 50 hours, which after inflation equates
to $217.50. However, wages have grown much
faster than inflation, with the average weekly
ordinary time earnings for adult males in
May 2000 being about $830.00 for around
37 hours work, in far better conditions.
The price of gold has often been used as a
measure of inflation. At Federation, the price of
gold was $8.50 an ounce, or $425.00 in today’s
money. The actual price of gold in 1999–2000
averaged about $460.00 an ounce, showing that
it has generally maintained pace with inflation.
The basket of items used in 1901 to calculate
the equivalent of today’s CPI consisted of a
number of food items, a few laundry products
such as starch, ‘blue’ (a laundry whitener) and
soap, candles for lighting, kerosene for heating
and house rents. Although the brands and range
of products have changed over time, many of
the items commonly used at the turn of century
are still everyday items. However, in many cases
there will have been changes in quality,
presumably for the better.