ECONOMIC INDICATORS – AUSTRALIA

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence up 1.1pts to 79.3 and up 2.8pts from mid-March low of 76.5

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Apr-23

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose 1.1pts to 79.3 in the week to April 9. The index has now increased by 2.8pts from the mid-March low of 76.5, its lowest level since early in the pandemic. However, this is the sixth week in a row the index has been below the mark of 80 – the longest stretch below 80 since the index began being conducted on a weekly rather than a monthly basis in October 2008. Consumer Confidence is now 15.3pts below the same week a year ago (94.6), and 1.9pts below the 2023 weekly average of 81.2. Consumer Confidence was up in most States including Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, but down slightly in NSW. Now 19% of Australians (unchanged) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 52% (also unchanged) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. Some 32% (unchanged) of Australians now expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 33% (down 2ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Only 8% (up 2ppts) of Australians now expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 37% (up 1ppt) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 20% (up 2ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 52% (down 1ppt) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence up 1.6pts to 78.2 this week; fifth week in a row below 80 is the first time since 1990-91

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Apr-23

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose 1.6pts to 78.2 in the week to April 2; however, this is the fifth week in a row the index has been below the mark of 80 – the first time this has happened since the index began being conducted on a weekly rather than a monthly basis in October 2008. Consumer Confidence is now 15.2pts below the same week a year ago (93.4), and 3.5pts below the 2023 weekly average of 81.4. Consumer Confidence was mixed around the country this week; it was driven upwards by a significant increase in New South Wales following the state election, and it was also up in WA and SA. In contrast, Consumer Confidence was down in Victoria and Queensland. Now 19% of Australians (down 2ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 52% (unchanged) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. Some 32% (up 2ppts) of Australians now expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 35% (down 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Only 6% (up 1ppt) of Australians now expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 36% (down 4ppts) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 18% (down 1ppt) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 53% (unchanged) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Australian full-time employment in March hit a record high of 9 million as unemployment fell 0.7% to 9.4%

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Apr-23

The latest Roy Morgan employment series data shows that the number of Australians who are unemployed fell by 111,000 to 1.41 million (9.4% of the workforce) in March. Underemployment was down 48,000 to 1.32 million (8.8% of the workforce). A total of 2.73 million Australians (18.8% of the workforce) were unemployed or underemployed in March, down 159,000. Meanwhile, employment increased by 57,000 to 13,574,000 in March. The increase was driven by an increase in full-time employment, up 41,000 to a new record high of 8,990,000; part-time employment also increased, up 16,000 to 4,584,000. Roy Morgan’s unemployment figure of 9.4% is almost 6% points higher than the ABS estimate of 3.5% for February and is comparable to the combined ABS unemployment and under-employment figure of 9.3%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence down for a fourth straight week by 0.5pts to 76.5 – lowest since early April 2020

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 22-Mar-23

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 0.5pts to 76.5 in the week to 19 March; this is the lowest rating since early April 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer Confidence is now 14.7pts below the same week a year ago (91.2), and 5.6pts below the 2023 weekly average of 82.1. Consumer Confidence was mixed around the country; it was up in Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia, but down in Queensland, and crucially down in New South Wales ahead of the election on Saturday. Now 19% of Australians (unchanged) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 52% (also unchanged) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. Some 30% (unchanged) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 37% (also unchanged) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Only 6% (unchanged) of Australians now expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 39% (up 1ppt) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 18% (down 1ppt) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 55% (up 2ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’ (the highest figure for this indicator since early April 2020).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Roy Morgan Business Confidence slumps 10.6 points to 95.8 in February after the RBA raises interest rates

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 15-Mar-23

In February 2023, Roy Morgan Business Confidence was 95.8 (down 10.6pts since January) after the RBA raised interest rates for a ninth consecutive meeting in early February. The fall in Business Confidence in February reversed the increase of 10.4pts in January, and Business Confidence is now 16.8pts below the long-term average of 112.6. Now just 39.1% (down 10.2ppts of businesses expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next year, while 59.3% (up 11.1ppts) expect bad times’. Some 41.2% (down 5.5ppts) of businesses expect the business will be ‘better off’ financially this time next year (the lowest figure for this indicator since the early stages of the pandemic in March 2020) while 28.1% (up 7.3ppts) expect the business will be ‘worse off’ (the highest figure for this indicator since in March 2020). Meanwhile, 46.5% (down 1.8ppts) of businesses say the next 12 months will be a ‘good time to invest in growing the business’, while 46.2% (up 2.5ppts) said it will be a ‘bad time to invest in growing the business’.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence down 2.9pts to 77.0 after RBA raises interest rates for a tenth straight meeting

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 15-Mar-23

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 2.9pts to 77.0 in the week to 12 March; this is the lowest rating since early April 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer Confidence is now 18.8pts below the same week a year ago (95.8), and 5.7pts below the 2023 weekly average of 82.7. Consumer Confidence was down around the country this week and below 80 in all five mainland States after the RBA raised interest rates for a record tenth straight meeting. Now 19% of Australians (down 2ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 52% (up 4ppts) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. Some 30% (down 2ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 37% (up 2ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Only 6% (unchanged) of Australians now expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 38% (also unchanged) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 19% (unchanged) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 53% (also unchanged) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Wage war on pay gap

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Original article by Ellen Ransley
Herald Sun – Page: 7 : 8-Mar-23

The Australia Institute has released the findings of research which concludes that the gender pay gap means that on average, women on median earnings will be $1.01m worse off over their working lives. The research, which has been released to coincide with International Women’s Day, also shows that women retire with $136,000 less in superannuation than male workers. Eliza Littleton from the Australia Institute’s Centre of Future Work says the gender pay gap costs women more than $3bn across the economy every week. Official data shows that the gender pay gap is currently about 13.3 per cent.

CORPORATES
THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED. CENTRE FOR FUTURE WORK

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence at 79.9 – virtually unchanged for second straight week in early March

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Mar-23

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was virtually unchanged at 79.9 in the week to 5 March. However, Consumer Confidence is 20.2pts below the same week a year ago (100.1), and 3.4pts below the 2023 weekly average of 83.3. Consumer Confidence had mixed results around the country; it was up in Queensland and South Australia, down in New South Wales and Western Australia and unchanged in Victoria. Now 21% of Australians (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, while 48% (unchanged) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. Some 32% (unchanged) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 35% (also unchanged) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Only 6% (down 1ppt) of Australians now expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 38% (unchanged) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 19% (down 2ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 53% (up 1ppt) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Australian full-time employment hit a record high above 8.9 million in February as unemployment falls 0.6% to 10.1%

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Mar-23

The latest Roy Morgan employment series data shows that the number of Australians who are unemployed fell by 86,000 to 1.52 million (10.1% of the workforce) in February. Underemployment was down 59,000 to 1.37 million (9.1% of the workforce). A total of 2.89 million Australians (19.2% of the workforce) were unemployed or underemployed in February, down 145,000. Meanwhile, employment increased by 99,000 to 13,517,000 in February. The increase was driven by an increase in full-time employment, up 48,000 to a new record high of 8,949,000; part-time employment also increased, up 51,000 to 4,568,000. Roy Morgan’s under-employment figure of 9.1% is 3% points higher than the ABS estimate of 6.1% for January. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says that compared to a year ago, the increased immigration and faster population growth than during the pandemic is boosting figures across the workforce. The workforce has grown rapidly over the last year and is up 595,000 to 15,038,000 – driven by both an increase in jobs (up 301,000 to 13,517,000) and a similar-sized increased in unemployment (up 294,000 to 1,521,000).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS

Fall in house prices stalls but reprieve may be short-lived

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Original article by Rachel Clun, Shane Wright
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 1-Mar-23

Data from CoreLogic shows that home values fell by just 0.14 per cent nationwide in February, which is the lowest decline since the Reserve Bank of Australia began to increase the cash rate in May 2022. Sydney was the only capital city to record a rise in house values in February, up 0.3 per cent; however, house values fell by less than 0.5 per cent in all other capitals except Hobart, which recorded a decline of 1.4 per cent. Tim Lawless of CoreLogic warns that the decline in house values may accelerate as the full impact of nine consecutive interest rate rises takes effect.

CORPORATES
CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD