A social researcher says Bill Shorten’s recent claim Australians earning up to $150,000 are struggling isn’t far off the money.

Demographer Mark McCrindle, from McCrindle Research, says the ever-rising cost of living and mortgage stress meant it wasn’t a surprise to find out people earning that amount money were battling.

“If you are spending more than 30 per cent of your household income on that mortgage, that’s considered a stressful situation,” he explained.

“If you’ve got the average house in Melbourne and have taken on a mortgage on that … unless you’ve got two people earning over $100,000 – by definition – you are in mortgage stress.”

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