INCOME SITUATION AND FORMATION OF CONSUMP TION PATTERNS OF INHABITANTS IN THE SLOVAK-REPUBLIC

This paper aims at a mapping of the development of consumer behaviour at the present stage of the transformation process. It has identified the amount of manoeuvring space for the public's consumption and inves tigates changes in their habits as regards grocery and non-grocery goo ds and services. A household's final consumption, the tracked indicato r of consumer behaviour, remained the highest share of GDP among eleme nts used. Its dynamic is however not marked, compared to other markers . It is connected with the level of income received, which in 1992 and 1993 showed only a slight rise hi die share of the revenue generated in the economy. This refers to a complicated process of households dea ling with price liberalisation and tile transformation recession. This meant a significant drop in incomes for a significant part of the pop ulation. The share of household spending in gross salaries in 1994 was 68%, in 1995, 70% and in 1996 it rose to 73.7%. Despite a marked rise in work income, albeit regionally differentiated, their development w as not an inflationary factor in the observed period. The household in come situation from 1992 to 1996 was characterised by a faster rise in gross disposable income than the growth tempo of final consumption. G ross savings have shown a sharp increase since 1993. The predicted gro wth in usual earnings and inflation levels in 1997 will show a further increase in the income share distributed among the public. Stability in the level of one-sided expense transfers (mostly taxes on the incom es of individuals) will enable a small growth of gross savings. Despit e the positive development of individual indicators determining the pu blic's behaviour on the goods and services market, as well as on finan cial markets, the sharp fall in the income situation following 1989 ha s still not been remedied. It is predicted that the 1997 gross disposa ble income will stand at 80% of the pre-transformation period. As rega rds consumer habits this means that despite certain positive changes i n quality as compared to the pre-1989 times with respect to consumptio n (besides foodstuffs and housing), the continuing low earnings level will prevent ally marked increases either in consumption patterns or s avings. Income rises are only very gradual, and for most consumers is reflected in spending on goods of daily consumption. Such limited mano euvring space means the acquiring of the same real consumable at many times higher nominal expenses. Strong household budgetary restrictions have been shown to be determined during any change to consumer patter ns. A sharp fall in real consumption prevails as a result of tile more rapid growth of living expenses compared to nominal earnings. The dev elopment of the internal structure of consumer prices shows that consu mer patterns are progressively conserved in a derivatory way at lower pay levels. The internal tension in consumption expenses, shown by the large share of so-called obligatory outlays, is a determining charact eristic of household budgets. The continuing large-scale grocery and p ublic eating expenses have as their result the loss of the first-place standing of non-grocery goods in the cost structure of ail types of h ousehold. However, this development in the real process of consumption is not connected with qualitative changes leading to healthier diets. This is also illustrated by grocery consumption trends in physical am ounts consumed. Neither are the relative smaller fall and gradual appr oximation of service costs connected to a move to more positive dualit y in consumer patterns. Since their primary elements are tied to livin g, it is clear that, due to the absence of substitutes, this is a matt er of obligatory consumption. The barrier threatening the degree of fr ee consumer choice on the market of consumable items is that primarily of a general low level of disposable income (on average, 1.49 to 1.7 times the minimum living level of an adult). This means that not even die continuing positive income situation has, in the last three years, been able to cover the fall in real consumption from the beginning of the 1990s. Its results on consumer patterns are long term and lie in: a continuing high share of consumer expenses for groceries, beverages and public meals along with a continuing reduction of the physical am ounts of these grocery groups indispensable for healthy nutrition, mos tly in pre-pubescent children; the rising share of living expenses inc luding accommodation maintenance expenses, the leader in the markedly increased demands on family budgets, creating as a result serious barr iers for young couples and for planning a family; such a rise in the s hare of expenses for services which, in combination with the continuin g low level of earnings and narrowing range of services provided, mean s a gradual return to performing domestic upkeep oneself and leading g enerally to the overburdening of women and to an increase in tension b etween the different civilization levels of individual spheres of life ; a relative reduction in outlays on culture and training as a result of the derivation of consumer resources, which impacts on the formatio n of future civilization, culture and education levels and life opport unities for the young generation in specific social groups.