Nielsen/British Retail Consortium (BRC) have today published their Consumer Confidence Survey, which reveals more people are feeling positive about their job prospects and personal finances, helped consumer confidence increase for the third consecutive quarter, although confidence levels remain well below pre-recession highs.
The survey also reveals half of respondents believe Britain will still be in recession by the end of 2010 and 70% are adjusting their spending to save money.
The level of personal debt is the biggest worry for most people over the next six months, closely followed by the economy and increasing utility bills.
Concerns about debt levels resulted in over two-thirds of people (69%) saying they put any spare cash they have, once they have covered their essential spending, into improving their personal finances. This is a combination of increasing savings (40%) and paying off debts (29%) – with the savings figure the highest recorded since this survey began in November 2004.
Justin Sargent, managing director of Nielsen Consumer UK, commented: “We are in the foothills of what will be a slow climb out of recession. While people are feeling ever so slightly better about job prospects and personal finances, a definite air of caution prevails.
“The number of people saying they are saving is at the highest the consumer confidence survey has ever recorded and people remain very concerned about the amount of debt they are shouldering.”
