Boom is back: Britons party like it is 2006
BRITISH consumers are more confident than at any point since 2006, the peak of the boom years, according to a study out today from market researchers at Nielsen.
Sentiment has improved over each of the past four quarters, with confidence levels in the UK up five times faster than the global average.
Nielsen’s index for the UK shot up 10 points over 2013 to stand at 94.
Although the index is intended to show optimism with scores of above 100, and pessimism below that level, this score is the highest since 2006, when the economy was last booming.
The proportion feeling positive about their job prospects rose by eight percentage points to 40 per cent, and the proportion who believe it is a good time to make purchases rose seven points to 42 per cent.
And the proportion who believe the UK is in a recession fell sharply, down 16 points to 55 per cent – the lowest level since the question was introduced in 2008.
The UK has not been in a formal recession since 2009 – defined as two consecutive quarters of falling GDP.
The survey shows growth since then is slowly feeding through into more consumer confidence.