Survey records lowest consumer confidence over jobs in South Australia

Consumer confidence about job mobility in South Australia has hit its lowest, impaired by an uncertain and shaky job market, a survey conducted by the BankSA's State Monitor of Consumer and Business Confidence has revealed. It has in fact recorded the lowest confidence amongst consumers in 17 years of the monitor.

Businesses that were contacted for the purpose of the survey also said that they have no plans for creating new jobs. Nick Reade, chief executive of the BankSA, said that the low records show that the job market in South Australia is going through a very tough phase. "The BankSA state monitor's telling us that business confidence has dropped about 6 percent in our most recent survey," he said. "The key issue for businesses is they're not feeling confident to spend money to employ people. That is actually at a record low over the 17 years that we've been doing this survey.”

Reade also said that consumer confidence has fallen by 4 percent, which means that they are refraining from spending money by not spending too much at the shops, which in turn is affecting business confidence directly. The rate of unemployment in this region is 8.2 percent and has given way to fears that it might go higher. This has impacted on the consumer confidence greatly.

According to InDaily, the survey also showed that there is a 5 percent decline in the number of businesses that have expressed confidence in the market and that expect conditions would improve over the next 12 months since February. Meanwhile, 51 percent of small businesses feel that confidence is falling among small scale businesses.

Despite the gloomy scenario in the business and job sectors of South Australia, the consumer and business index generated by the survey has managed to remain one point above the base 100 at 101. Reade said that the federal and state budgets provided the businesses with certain incentives that allow them to keep spending.

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