UK consumer confidence is knocked back further

Job losses hurt consumer confidence in November where Nationwide Building Society’s index of sentiment fell to its lowest point in over four years. This is despite the fact that consumers are still willing to spend said the Nationwide.

The consumer confidence index has fallen by 6 points to 50 as pessimism has increased due to the deepening recession.

Since the completion of the survey, Chancellor Alistair Darling has announced a 2.5 percent cut in VAT and it has yet to be seen how this may affect consumer confidence, however an improvement in expected.

Staff placements by recruitment companies is at its lowest ebb since 1997 and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation report revealed that the number of unemployment claimants increased to 980,900 last month, which is the highest rate since 2001.

On a positive note spending has increased, especially on the high street due to the fact that retailers have been putting up heavy discounts in order to entice shoppers into major purchases.

26 percent of the people surveyed said that they think that now is the best time to make a major purchase compared to just 8 percent last month.

However the mindset for the future has plummeted, as 45 percent of those surveyed believe that the economic situation will get worse over the next six months.

Story link: UK consumer confidence is knocked back further