“In particular, confidence around the economic outlook has faltered. The components of the index measuring consumer views on the economic outlook over the next 12 months and five years are both down by over 10 per cent from their average reads over the last three months.” The Australian dollar slipped slightly. It was trading at US91.45¢ just before the survey was released, and eased to US91.40¢. The unemployment expectations index rose by 4.6 per cent from 144.7 to 151.4 points, reflecting consumers’ concerns the jobless rate would rise. The index was 6.3 per cent above its October 2011 level, which was a month before Reserve Bank started its current monetary easing cycle. “There are some significant messages in this survey for the [RBA] to ponder over the Christmas break,” Mr Evans said. “Firstly it is clear that Australians are nervous around their jobs. Despite a significant boost to economic confidence immediately follow the election, respondents remained unsettled about job security.”

Respondents were mixed about the housing market and their attitudes towards savings, the survey found. While households were less optimism about whether it was a good time to buy a dwelling, they were more positive about their expectations on rising house prices. Consumers said they were less risk-averse and were holding less conservative attitudes towards debt, although there was a higher proportion of them favouring bank deposits over real estate and "spending it". "[I]f we take a longer perspective on this issue there is a clear preference shift back toward less conservative financial attitudes," Mr Evans said. Despite the slide in sentiment, analysts said the recent surveys pointed to a near-term improvement in consumption growth. "Together, the data are still broadly consistent with our forecast of a lower household savings rate, and hence moderately faster consumption growth ahead," UBS economist George Tharenou said.

Last month, consumer confidence rose to its second-highest level in almost three years, boosted by the boom in the housing market, the survey showed. But jobs remained a key concern, with the unemployment expectations sub-index rising for the month. Softness in the labour market has also been reflected in the business surveys. National Australia Bank’s monthly business survey, released yesterday, showed that improving trading conditions are being offset by a weakening labour market. Business conditions remained weak, while firms’ confidence levels edged lower after jumping up following the federal elections in September, the NAB survey found. Both consumer and business confidence have been lifted by the federal election, although economists and the Reserve Bank have said it was still too early to tell if the boost in sentiment would be sustained.

Loading Consumers’ concerns about jobs come just a day before Bureau of Statistics data on the November unemployment rate is released. Economists’ expect the jobless rate to rise to 5.8 per cent from 5.7 per cent in October, with 10,000 jobs added to the economy. The Treasury expects the unemployment rate to rise to 6.25 per cent in 2014 as the economy continues to grow at a below-trend pace.