Canadians' Consumer Confidence Holds Steady in Face of Bad Employment News: Survey

TORONTO, Aug. 16, 2012 /CNW/ - Canadian Consumer Confidence has held firm, with some sub-indices actually gaining slightly, despite some bad economic news showing that Canada shed more than 30,000 jobs during the month of July.  According to the latest consumer confidence survey conducted by TNS, the Canadian Consumer Confidence Index ticked up very slightly from 94.6 to 95.0 (which is not considered to be a change in statistical terms) in August. "Canadians are spending their time by the barbecue and not paying attention, except maybe to the Olympics." explained Norman Baillie-David, Senior Vice President of TNS in Canada and Director of the Marketing and Social Research firm's monthly tracking study.  "Unless they were one of the unfortunate ones having a lost a job, Canadians have given the recent bad news a collective shrug."

The Present Situation Index, which measures how people feel about the economy right now, fell very slightly, from 94.7 to 94.0, again, not enough to be considered a drop in statistical terms.

However, the Expectations Index, which measures people's outlook for the economy six months from now, rose an encouraging 1.5 points, climbing from 97.3 to 98.8, regaining some of the loss of the previous month.  "This month Canadians have decided to look at the glass as being 'half full', instead of 'half empty'", continued Mr. Baillie-David.  "While overall confidence is holding firm, Canadians are preferring to be cautiously optimistic, maybe even hopeful about the next six months."

The Buy Index, which measures the extent to which Canadians' feel that now is a good time to purchase a "big ticket item", such as a car or a major household appliance, is perhaps the most important of the sub-indices, because if people feel now is a good time to buy, they may act on it, which will provide the real economic stimulus. The Buy Index also held firm, ticking up ever so slightly from 91.8 to 92.6.  Again, the climb is not enough to indicate an increase in statistical terms - meaning it basically stayed the same in August.  "The good news is that the drop in employment hasn't caused Canadians to hold their wallets tighter.  However, we'll have to wait and see what September brings when people are back from the cottage and paying full attention again.", concluded Mr. Baillie-David.

Consumer Confidence Index tracks Canadians' attitudes about the economy each month and is part of a global study conducted by TNS in 18 countries. Three indices are produced each month to show how confidence in the economy is changing: Present Situation Index; an Expectations Index; and a Buy Index.

The Canadian fieldwork is conducted using the firm's national bi-weekly telephone omnibus service, TNS Express Telephone.  A total of 1,014 nationally representative Canadian adults were interviewed between August 6 and August 9, 2012. For a survey sample of this size, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

About TNS and Kantar

TNS (formerly known as TNS Canadian Facts) is the Canadian arm of TNS Global. TNS advises clients on specific growth strategies around new market entry, innovation, brand switching and stakeholder management, based on long-established expertise and market-leading solutions. With a presence in over 80 countries, TNS has more conversations with the world's consumers than anyone else and understands individual human behaviours and attitudes across every cultural, economic and political region of the world.

TNS is part of Kantar, one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy groups.

Please visit www.tnsglobal.com for more information.

Kantar is one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy groups. By uniting the diverse talents of its 13 specialist companies, the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and inspirational insights for the global business community. Its 28,500 employees work across 100 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group's services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies. 

For further information, please visit us at www.kantar.com.

SOURCE: TNS

Norman Baillie-David, MBA, CMRP 
Vice President,
[phone] x101
[email protected]
@NBaillieDavid
www.tnscanada.ca
@TNSCanada