Since the second half of 2023 and throughout 2024, household consumption growth in the euro area has remained weak, despite favourable cyclical conditions. This paper analyses the impact on consumption of recent demographic and socio-economic structural trends in the euro area, such as population ageing and the increases in the female employment rate, in the share of immigrants and in the use of remote work.
The analysis shows that female employment raises consumption expenditure, while remote work reduces it, but their impact is smaller than that of the traditional determinants of consumption (disposable income and interest rates). After the pandemic, the positive contribution of female employment diminished, while the negative impact of remote work increased. Holding the population constant, an increase in immigration would reduce aggregate consumption, but taking into account the associated increase in population, the net effect is positive.
