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Consumer optimism about jobs on the rise
By Conor Keane, Business Editor
Consumers are more optimistic on the jobs front than at any time in the last five years, according to the latest KBC Bank Ireland/ESRI Consumer Sentiment Index.
In its first monthly decline since December, the index fell to 61.0 from 62.5 in April but KBC Bank Ireland’s chief economist Austin Hughes says the May results do not signal a change in trend.“The 1.5 point drop in the index between April and May has to be seen in the context of the 3.3 point average monthly gain seen thus far in 2012. So, last month’s decline was relatively modest. It should also be noted that the underlying trend in consumer sentiment, as measured by the three-month moving average of the series, increased slightly in May to 61.4 from 60.1,” he said.
Mr Hughes said the jobs element of the May sentiment survey was particularly encouraging.
“While Irish consumers remain cautious about the employment situation, the increasing frequency of new jobs announcements of late and signs of a stabilisation in the live register seem to have prompted a less negative assessment of the outlook for jobs. As a result, the number of consumers expecting a further rise in unemployment in the next 12 months dropped to just below 50%, the first time this has happened since Jan 2007,” he said.
The survey underpinning the index found a marked change in consumer thinking in May.
“There was marginal improvement in consumers’ assessment of the outlook for their household finances in the next 12 months but this was too small to be significant. Forward-looking views of household finances were also more positive than consumers’ views on how their personal finances had developed in the previous 12 months. So, it doesn’t seem that there was any marked change in consumer thinking in regard to personal financial prospects last month,” he said.
The EBS quarterly Consumer Saving Sentiment Research found 9 in 10 people are now shopping around for savings with clothes, mobile phones and holidays topping the list.
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