A few weeks ago, the CSO published the Q2 2023 update of the non-financial institutional sector accounts. We will use those to check in on the status of the household sector for the first six months of this year (H1) and how it compares to last year and to 2008.
First, the current account. In the prevailing environment, it is important to note that the figures in the table below are in nominal terms, i.e. not inflation adjusted. We will look at some of the aggregates in constant prices towards the end of the post.
The start point of the current account here is Gross Domestic Product. For the household sector this is the value added produced, a large share of which is due to the imputed rents attributed to owner-occupier households with the remainder arising from the activities of the self-employed.
From there the account proceeds through a series of inflows and outflows until the bottom line is reached, Gross Savings, which is disposable income not used for consumption.
Most of the items in the table show an increase for H1 2023 over H1 2022. One of the most significant is the continued growth of compensation of employees received. This is up 7.3 per cent (remember in nominal terms) and stood at €64.6 billion for the first six months of the year. Non-financial corporations are the most important source of COE and their pay outlays are up 8.0 per cent in year-on-year terms.
The largest relative changes are for the interest flows. Both interest paid and interest received are up almost 60 per cent in 2023. Taxes on income and social contributions, particularly those paid to the government sector, rose in line with the rise in income. Social benefits received rose slightly for H1 2023 but remain lower than they were in 2020 and 2021 as COVID-19 supports were withdrawn.
All told, the national accounts estimate of household disposable income for H1 2023 was €73.8 billion. With consumption expenditure of €64.8 billion and a €1.8 billion adjustment for the excess of contributions to private pensions over benefits received from them, the gross saving of the household sector is put at €10.6 billion for the first six months of the year.
This is lower than each of the previous three years and gives a savings rate of 14.5 per cent for H1 2023, which remains slightly higher than the 12.1 per cent recorded for H1 2019 in pre-COVID times.
To see how that saving might be used we can turn to the capital account.
Again, the figures are in nominal terms. The key figures in the capital account are the amount Gross Savings taken from the current account and the amount of Gross Capital Formation (investment in new capital assets) undertaken by households. These are the main items that give rise to the net borrowing/lending of the household sector. There are some other minor flows for capital taxes paid, investment grants received and other capital transfers.
With gross savings of €10.6 billion and with the household sector “only” undertaking €4.5 billion of gross capital formation, the household sector had €6.6 billion available for net lending. This goes on the financial balance sheet.
The CSO don’t do quarterly updates of their financial institutional sector accounts but the Central Bank do with estimates for Q1 2023 the latest available. These show the household sector adding a further €2.7 billion to their burgeoning deposit balances. Between currency and deposits, the Central Bank estimate that the household sector had €198 billion on hand in Q1 2023, up from €154 billion in Q1 2020. Households also used savings to make the contributions to private pensions referenced above.
On the liability side there was very little movement in Q1. Repayments on existing loans were pretty much equivalent to drawdowns of new loans, with a net increase in loan liabilities of just €36 million in Q1. Though it should be noted that repayments have exceeded drawdowns for the past 15 years or so.
All told, the Central Bank estimate that the household sector had €507 billion of financial assets at the end of Q1 2023, with an offsetting amount of liabilities of €143 billion.
Some Constant Price Series
The CSO also some of the main aggregates using constant prices. These series are also seasonally adjusted. Here are the series for Disposable Income and Consumption Expenditure.
It can readily be seen that the income increase shown in the table for the current account in nominal terms is eliminated with the adjustment to constant prices. In real terms, aggregate household disposable income has been declining in recent quarters. Real consumption has continued to rise and is not far off its pre-COVID trend. In aggregate terms, both series are well ahead of the previous peaks reached in 2008.
To conclude, we make one additional adjustment to the CSO constant price series – put them in per capita terms.
As the population is growing fairly rapidly this shows that the decline in per capita income is more pronounced than that shown by the aggregate figures, and that per capita real consumption has essentially been flat for the past year or so.
It is also interesting to make comparisons back to the previous local maxima for each series from 2008. Both the disposable income and consumption series are actually little different to their peaks in early 2008 – the latest readings put both series about 2 per cent above those 2008 peaks.
This might suggest a “lost 15 years”. However, the environment on which each were achieved are wholly different. We can see this by looking at the ‘Saving minus Investment’ of the household and government sectors. This is each sector’s contribution to the current account of the Balance of Payments and is the Net Lending/(Borrowing) of a sector excluding capital taxes, investment grants and capital transfers. For this we return to nominal figures and annualise them by looking at their four-quarter moving sum.
The difference between 2008 and 2023 is huge. In 2008, the household sector was in deficit to the tune of €20 billion. Via the circular flow, this borrowing was contributing to household income. When the crash came the borrowing was taken over by the government as tax revenues collapsed and spending on income supports increased. Without this borrowing, income (and consumption) would have been much lower.
For 2023, there is a combined surplus of €20 billion. There is a €40 billion difference between the positions of 2008 and that of 2023. Now both the household and government sectors have an excess of disposable income over their consumption and capital formation expenditure. In terms of GNI*, it is equivalent to going from borrowing 12 per cent of national income to lending 8 per cent of national income. Simply comparing the income and consumption outcomes misses the scale of the turnaround in the borrowing/(lending) position of the economy.
We are in an income position to spend more – Corporation Tax concerns aside! But do we have the resource capacity to produce the things that we would like to buy, such as new housing units?
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