Consumer confidence up 6th straight month
Last Updated: Thursday, August 27, 2009 | 11:36 AM ET
CBC News
Canadian consumers are increasingly confident about their financial future and employment conditions, says the Conference Board of Canada.
The board said Thursday its consumer confidence index rose for the sixth consecutive month in August to 88.4. That's an 18.2-point jump since the beginning of the year, when the recession was at its worst.
The survey was conducted between Aug. 6 and 16 and the margin of error is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
The Conference Board says when respondents were asked about expectations for their future financial situation, the percentage of negative responses fell to11.4 per cent — the lowest since February 2008.
On the job front, 25.6 per cent felt there will be fewer jobs available in the next six months, a huge improvement from the 54.5 per cent who felt gloomy about job prospects six months ago.
Still, on both the financial situation and jobs category, the percentage of respondents who gave positive responses remained low, an indication that concern about the economy had not completely vanished.
On a more upbeat note, more respondents felt now is a good time to make a major purchase, such as a car, than those who said it is not, the first time the balance of opinion on the question has been positive since April 2008.
With files from The Canadian PressShare Tools
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