Consumers optimistic on economy, employment: survey

Consumer confidence is on the rise, with more Canadians reporting that they're optimistic about the direction of the economy and employment prospects in the coming months, a new survey suggests.

The TNS Canadian Facts' Consumer Confidence Index finds that the confidence index has risen to 99.2, up from 93.4 in July.

"The fact is consumer confidence has been trending upward since it fell to an all-time low last December, " Dr. Michael Antecol, vice-president of TNS Facts and director of the marketing research firm's monthly tracking study, said in a release. "The gains that we observed just in the past month are particularly notable."

The study tracked three indices:

• The Present Situation Index, which assesses the current economic and employment climate, rose to 83.4 from 79.1 last month.
• The Buy Index, which tracks consumers' perception of whether it's a good time to buy, rose five points to 108.3 in August from 103.2 in July.
• The Expectations Index, which assesses consumers' perspectives on the economic climate, household income and employment in the coming six months, jumped 8.5 points to 111.1 in August from 102.6 the month before.

The consumer confidence survey is conducted by TNS, a custom research agency,as part of a larger study in 18 countries. The three indices are tabulated monthly through bi-weekly telephone interviews. For this most recent survey, 1,015 Canadians over 18 were interviewed between Aug. 3 and 6. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.