UK households remain downbeat about their finances - survey
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Monday 19 Oct 2020
(Sharecast News) - Household finances remain under severe pressure, research published on Monday showed, as concerns about job security and the long-term health of the economy persist.
The IHS Markit UK Household Finance Index for October, which measures households' overall perception of financial wellbeing, was 40.8. That was unchanged on September's reading, and well below the neutral mark of 50.0.
Perceptions of job security recovered from April's low, with its index rising to a seven-month high. However, IHS Markit said it remained below both 50.0 and the long-run average.
Looking ahead, households expect their situation in 12 months' time to still be relatively gloomy, with the financial wellbeing expectations index the least pessimistic for four months but still in negative territory.
Lewis Cooper, economist at IHS Markit, said: "Households reported a fall in the availability of cash, a quicker reduction in their spending, further use of savings and increased demand for unsecured credit, all of which highlights the hardship facing some UK households at present.
"With new Covid-19 related restrictions introduced, job security perceptions remained negative and incomes from employment fell again in October. Moreover the measures are likely to have a severely negative impact on household finances, and as such, hope of a recovery will be on hold until the pandemic is under control and restrictions are loosened."
A total of 1,500 adults aged between 18 and 64 were interview between 8 and 13 October for the survey.
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN