14 Jan 2014
Australian consumer anxiety rises amid weaker jobs market - NAB
FXstreet.com (Bali) - NAB published its quarterly report of Australian Consumer Anxiety Index in conjunction with the NAB Quarterly Australian Wellbeing Index, aimed at assessing perceptions of consumer stress and wellbeing, providing, as NAB defines it "a subjective assessment of over 2,000 Australian’s own concerns about their future spending/savings plans arising from job security, health, retirement, cost of living and government policy."
Key findings of the Q4 2013 report - NAB
Consumer anxiety rises amid ongoing weakness in the domestic economy… Consumer anxiety rose to 61.5 points in Q4 (61.1 in Q3).
With the labour market softening, anxiety over job security has started climbing (particularly in WA and Victoria) although it still rates as the lowest concern overall.
Instead, consumers are still most worried about the cost of living (but marginally less so than in Q3).
The level of anxiety related to health and government policy was up slightly and unchanged for ability to fund retirement.
Among other key findings: Victorian consumers are most anxious; women are now significantly more anxious than men (especially ability to fund retirement, job security, cost of living and health); anxiety rose most for 30-49 year olds; anxiety was higher for those in part time employment and working in “other” or sales/clerical jobs.
In a Special Report titled “Factors Impacting Cost of Living”, we take a closer look at the key drivers of cost of living pressures.
Overall, the most important influences on higher cost of living include: utility bills, education and housing costs. In contrast, travel/holiday costs and entertainment were not considered to have a negative impact on the cost of living.
For larger households utility costs is by far the biggest concern – far more so than for those living by themselves, a result also reflective of those households with children. Though Victorians were generally most concerned regarding cost of living, they ranked transport costs far better than other states
Key findings of the Q4 2013 report - NAB
Consumer anxiety rises amid ongoing weakness in the domestic economy… Consumer anxiety rose to 61.5 points in Q4 (61.1 in Q3).
With the labour market softening, anxiety over job security has started climbing (particularly in WA and Victoria) although it still rates as the lowest concern overall.
Instead, consumers are still most worried about the cost of living (but marginally less so than in Q3).
The level of anxiety related to health and government policy was up slightly and unchanged for ability to fund retirement.
Among other key findings: Victorian consumers are most anxious; women are now significantly more anxious than men (especially ability to fund retirement, job security, cost of living and health); anxiety rose most for 30-49 year olds; anxiety was higher for those in part time employment and working in “other” or sales/clerical jobs.
In a Special Report titled “Factors Impacting Cost of Living”, we take a closer look at the key drivers of cost of living pressures.
Overall, the most important influences on higher cost of living include: utility bills, education and housing costs. In contrast, travel/holiday costs and entertainment were not considered to have a negative impact on the cost of living.
For larger households utility costs is by far the biggest concern – far more so than for those living by themselves, a result also reflective of those households with children. Though Victorians were generally most concerned regarding cost of living, they ranked transport costs far better than other states