This meant that disposable income grew more quickly than gross income (8.3 per cent per annum on average); and  2  BIS Review 130/2008  •  inflation (as measured by the consumption deflator) ate up 2.2 per cent per annum of this income growth, leaving growth in real disposable income at the figure of 6.1 per cent mentioned earlier.
This growth in household incomes in Australia greatly exceeded that in any other developed economy. In the US, for example, growth in real household disposable income was only about half that in Australia. It is also interesting to note that the growth in income in Australia was fairly evenly distributed through the household sector.