Australians are generally not as happy as they were before COVID-19, as pandemic-related troubles give way to cost of living and housing concerns.

A biennial report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare draws on wide-ranging data to analyse the pandemic’s temporary and lasting effects on the way Australians live and work.

The in-depth study, entitled Australia’s Welfare 2023, shows life satisfaction and psychological distress have improved but not returned to pre-pandemic levels.

A quarterly Australian National University survey put average life satisfaction at seven out of 10 in October 2019, before it fell to 6.5 in April 2020 and August 2021.

The metric had picked up to 6.8 by January this year but dropped back to 6.6 in August.

That month, 30.3 per cent of Australians reported finding it difficult or very difficult to live on their income, up from 17.3 per cent during the first year of the pandemic in November 2020.

But the 322-page report noted price increases from inflation rates not seen in Australia since the 1990s had become a “key determinant” of life satisfaction by October 2022.

“Household income in Australia declined in real terms by about 3.1 per cent between April and October 2022, suggesting a decline in living standards,’ read the report, published on Thursday.

“Life satisfaction in October 2022 was 10 per cent lower for people who thought price increases were a very big problem (6.4) compared to those who did not (7.1), and 14 per cent lower for those in the bottom income quintile (6.2) compared with the top income quintile (7.2).”

Despite wages falling in real terms, Australian renters on average paid an extra 2.5 per cent in the 2023 June quarter alone and 6.7 per cent annually, the largest yearly rise since 2009.

But the cost of living and housing crises had not translated to more people joining the welfare queue by March, with the proportion of Australians 16 and over on income support settling back to pre-pandemic levels (24 per cent).

While restrictions and vaccine mandates have all but been abandoned across the country, the report shows the human toll of COVID-19 continues to mount.

There have been 10,176 more deaths than expected in Australia from the start of the pandemic to March, with COVID-19 accounting for a high proportion of those as the nation’s eighth leading cause of total disease burden in 2022.

The institute’s deputy chief executive officer Matthew James said Australia had come a long way since the previous edition of the report in September 2021.

“At that time, many Australians were experiencing lockdowns, only 44.7 per cent of people over the age of 16 were fully vaccinated against COVID and most children aged 12-15 weren’t yet eligible to receive COVID vaccines,” he said.

“Life is much more ‘normal’ now for most Australians, however, some things are quite different to before the pandemic.”

The report also said that prior to the pandemic, 13 per cent of people aged 18 and over with a job reported working from home most days, according to the ABS Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey.

By April 2022, 46 per cent of people had worked from home at least once per week in the previous four weeks.

According to University of South Australia Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour Dr Ruchi Sinha, the report highlights the need for Australia’s employment laws and regulations to be updated to reflect the changing nature of work.

Sinha said the changing nature of work has brought about a need to ensure remote workers have access to the same employment protections as in-office workers and are provided the same training and development and health and wellbeing opportunities.

“We need to ensure that remote work policies are inclusive and provide reasonable accommodations for employees, including employees with disabilities,” she said.

“Employers should be promoting the adoption of technologies that enable people to work from home, this includes essential equipment like laptops, webcams and audio tools. Such investment in digital infrastructure and resources for remote workers should be encouraged in rural areas too, to reduce digital poverty.”

She added the fact that almost 40 per cent of Australians report having experienced loneliness recently could also be partially addressed in the workplace.

“Employers can recognise the potential challenges of remote work on mental health and establish policies that promote wellbeing including encouraging regular check-ins between managers and remote workers, and providing access to mental health resources and support,” Sinha said.

“It’s important too to balance remote and in-office work by considering hybrid work models that meet the needs of both employees and employers. Things like face-to-face events and meetings arranged at cafes and restaurants can help with loneliness as well as culture building.”